Wills

[Hopkirk]

Is there a central register of wills?

When a solicitor writes a will, I was wondering if they record the existence of it.

It would make it easier if someone passes away, to locate the relevant will.

[237SJ]

Our solicitor registers with the National Will Register

[Buenchico]

It's a sort of 'yes and no' answer to that one, Hoppy.

There's no obligation upon anyone to register a will anywhere and, as many wills are simply drafted by the testators (rather than using a solicitor) or through a will-writing service, it'll be obvious that many wills are never registered.

However there have been several firms that have tried to create some sort of register, purely for their own profit. That's possibly made matters worse though, as there are several different places where a will might now be registered.

The Law Society has sought to improve the situation though, by recognising just one such service and recommending it to solicitors. It's called the National Will Service and is run by a firm called Advanced. (There's still no obligation upon solicitors to sign up to the service if they don't want to though):
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/membership/offers/national-will-register

[Hopkirk]

Thank you both. That's interesting.

[Peter Pedant]

there is a film about this ( 60s)
priddy girl marries old bagga - who then dies on board ship
and villain persuades priddy girl ( audrey hepburn I think) that he has to register will in port or else she doesnt get the loola!

so she keeps him in the cabin ( must smell) and Trevor Howard walks in and asks - how long has he been dead?

eek

( you dont have to register wills)