Wills & Probate
© InHouse Wills
Storing a Will
It is no good making a Will if it goes missing when it is needed. Hence your Will needs to be kept safe and stored professionally - but you never need to pay regularly for the service.
Storing a Will
Keeping a Will at home is never a good idea. All too easily it can be lost, stolen, accidentally thrown away or destroyed in some way and you are presumed to have no Will at all. It is the original document that is needed (not a copy) and even if not lost, it may become damaged causing the Probate Office to question its validity later on.
In the past solicitors simply stored Wills in their office, sometimes in wooden document
holders just like this one. Whilst it might have stopped a Will simply being lost,
it was no protection against fire, damp or other problems.
Your local bank might store it for you for an annual charge, but if you move or change banks it might not be found in the future. In any event, the bank will not let anyone access your stored papers without a grant of Probate - but your executors cannot get a grant of Probate without first getting hold of the papers - a real “catch 22” situation.
That is why we recommend professional Will storage – somewhere where it will be kept safe but also where it can be found and properly retrieved. At InHouse we can arrange proper storage of your Will as a standard part of our current Will writing service, with NO ongoing annual charges. Your Will is kept in fireproof storage under the protection of a major national specialist company who currently look after more than 60,000 Wills. You are issued with certificates for yourself and your family. That way your Will is kept safe (and private) until it is needed and your family know exactly where to find it. The storage service currently includes access to free Probate Helpline, to give advice to you or your Executors.
Alternatively, we can arrange for your Will to be stored at the Principal Probate Registry (part of the High Court). A one-off charge of £30 per Will ensures that when anyone applies for Probate your Will is found and cannot be ignored or ‘accidentally’ forgotten.
Unlike InHouse, many other firms make annual charges for the storage of Wills (currently a local firm is charging £24 every year, or a one-off fee of £125). Some firms may include Will storage as part of an expensive package of services, such as ‘pre-paid probate’ which is rarely a good idea.
If you are paying regularly for storage of your Will, contact us today to talk about how to save your money.