Lost Last Wills – Where is that Last Will and Testament.
Loss of Last Wills is really common:
- THE MOST COMMON ISSUE: they are totally out of date due to the lack of ongoing review (we recommend every 3 years as a minimum, or when family circumstances, the Law, or Tax change. Rather the point of our Peace of Mind Service, to remind and inform.
- SECOND MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE: the Will was never signed correctly in the first place!
- Usually, they just get lost amongst other less important papers and get thrown out.
- Solicitors or Will Writing firms close down or go bankrupt.
- Last Wills are incinerated in home safes (the safe is fine – but the temperature inside rises and incinerates the documents inside – but not the diamonds!)
- The letter from the holding solicitor or bank disappears – it is just a simple sheet of paper.
- The Last Will is destroyed by a person who doesn’t like the contents in the hope that they will gain more under the rules of intestacy.
We “rescue” many of these Wills each year and the firms they come from are listed below. If you know of a firm which is going out of business, ask them to contact us as we may be able to save them and their clients a great deal of work / grief.
To look for a Will which has been lost, see the Lost Last Wills page but this only covers last Wills that we have rescued. Our own clients and their executors will have proper laminated storage certificates.
Very few firms provide anything like the service we do, so you can either join our service direct, or suggest to your solicitor or will writer that they join with us in offering a service to their clients.
If you are a solicitor or Will Writer retiring or going out of business, you can save your clients and yourself a great deal of grief and hard work by contacting us.
Last Wills which may not be lost:
We have rescued many of the stored Wills (etc) of:
Meridian Wills
Formerly of Croydon – Allied Professional Will Writers and ourselves are looking after their clients as best we can. We have some of their Last Wills in safe custody, but not all. We have written to the last known address of all those whose Last Wills we do have.
Three Counties Will Makers Ltd of High Wycombe.
The owner, Jeanette Williamson sadly passed away in 2021, and we have some of their documents in store, and know the whereabouts of some others. We have written to the addresses we were given.
The Paragon Partnership Ltd
formerly of Luton & St Leonards on Sea. Once again, we have written to everyone whose Last Will we hold – but only to the address we have, which may well be out of date.
DSB Estate & Tax Planning Ltd
an orderly take over due to closure of the business and we are holding all of the documents they stored.
Allied Professional Will Writers Ltd
Still working hard to protect clients: we operate their storage, where clients request it.
The Probate Department Ltd solicitors
This firm ceased to operate as the solicitor left, but we operated their storage, where clients requested it.