Shutterstock / nampix
Do you ever get the feeling the universe is trying to send you a message?
I had one of those a few weeks ago. I’d spent a couple of days working on articles about wills for the Saga Money newsletter and was feeling suitably content that both my husband and I had written ours and everything was in order.
But a day or so later, I saw a post on Facebook on the importance of having a will, shared by a friend whose husband had sadly passed away. It was a moving post and within a few minutes that mild smugness had evaporated, and a sense of unease was beginning to creep in.
Something was telling me that I should, at the very least, check where our wills are, if only for proof of their existence.
I knew we had written a will since we got married, but it occurred to me that I couldn’t remember where it was. The more I thought about it, I couldn’t picture it or recall seeing it alongside all our other important paperwork.
Cue panic. I spent a manic hour or so searching through drawers, box files and our safe. I just couldn’t find it; there were only so many places it could be.
I’m not the most organised of people, but there’s no way it would have been stuffed into our kitchen drawers or down the back of the sofa (where Aretha Franklin’s will was famously found).
I took a few deep breaths. It’s alright, we had definitely used a solicitor, so it would be with them. But which solicitor did we use? I couldn’t for the life of me remember, although I was pretty sure it was the same firm that did the conveyancing for our house.
I started my search by digging out documents from our house move. I quickly found letters from the conveyancing service, but my heart sank when I Googled the name.
The company no longer existed.
Another look at the small print and I found the legal firm behind it but, again, Google found no sign of it either.
Thankfully, after a bit more cyber-sleuthing, I finally made some progress – it looked like the firm we used had merged with another solicitor.
However, as always with these things, it’s one step forward and two back – I phoned the London head office, and they had no knowledge of the solicitor we had used.
I was politely – but firmly – told they couldn’t help.
Driven by the prospect of paying for another will, I didn’t give up and I did some more online searching around lost wills.
I discovered the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) website has a tool that enables you to search for the firms it regulates. Bingo.
It gave me details of the firm our solicitors had merged with, including a contact number and email address. It was the firm I had contacted in London, but the number given was for a local office.
(If you find yourself in the same situation, but your solicitor hasn’t merged with another firm, the SRA also has a page that details what you can do).
Ten minutes later, after speaking to a lovely member of its family law team – ironically back in the London office – both our wills had been tracked down to an archive in Bath where they’re safely stored.
Panic over, crisis averted. Nonetheless, the experience has provided a useful reminder that we don’t just need to ensure our wills are kept up to date, we also need to regularly make sure we know exactly where they are.
With an (albeit sketchy) memory of writing our wills I had some clues to start my search, but I dread to think what would have happened if we had died and our children had to try and find them.
My experience might not necessarily be the best advert for leaving your will with a solicitor – but it hasn’t tempted me to keep the original at home (where I know it could get lost).
Especially as I’ve since learned it’s only the original will that’s legally binding and able to be used to gain probate.
.jpg?sc=max&mw=800&h=450&la=en&h=731&w=1300&hash=CFE9B9F93B3C4797FDB5DF31F40F13A3)
Ian Bond, Private Client Partner at law firm Irwinn Mitchell, told Saga Money that you should ideally have a copy of your will somewhere safe (and easy to recollect…): “The idea is that the solicitors / will writers retain the original will for safekeeping but share a copy with the client to keep at home for their own reference.
“They can review periodically to make sure that circumstances haven't changed. The copy of the will at home should have the solicitor’s / will writers’ contact details and reference on it.
“This means when the person passes away, the copy will can be found in their papers at home and the solicitor / will writers contacted to retrieve the original will.”
He adds: “Many solicitors / will writers also now send the clients a PDF scan of their will by email or other means so that the person making the will can choose to send a copy to their family, loved ones or executors so that they both know the contents and also confirm where the original is held.”
We’re now going through the process of arranging for copies of our wills to be sent to us. But, in the meantime, I’ve left a note in a file with all our other important documents stating that we have a will, along with the name and contact details of the solicitor – just in case.
Bond says the best place to store your will is somewhere safe and accessible.
“This can be at home (with other financial papers and documents), with the solicitors' firm or will writer that wrote the will (many offer this service for free), or with a separate commercial will storage company (usually for a fee).”
“You should make sure that you communicate with the potential executors and your family where it is. You don’t have to say what’s in the will, but that you have made a will and where the original can be found.
“There’s no point making a will if it is not found and acted upon after you die.”
If you wrote your will yourself with a DIY will pack, or the service you use doesn’t offer storage, you can instead store it with the Probate Service (through HM Courts and Tribunal Service) for a one-off fee of £22.
Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to store your will in a safe deposit box.
“If you have a safe deposit box then the contract with the provider only allows access to the box once the grant of probate has been issued,’ adds Bond.
“This leads to a situation where access cannot be obtained to the safe deposit box to take the will out - as probate cannot be obtained without the will.”
Swerve under-performing accounts and consider moving your money to savings products with market-leading rates.
Understand how your money is taxed in retirement and learn simple ways to reduce your bill.
