What happens to my will after solicitor closes down?

[colin79ie]

We made a will a couple years ago. We have our copy and the solicitor we used kept a copy in his 'fireproof safe'.

We recently heard that that solicitor office closed down and no longer operates.

I'm just wondering what happened or happens to the paperwork and will that was stored there?
Does it get recorded on a central system somewhere?

 

[DannyBoyD]

Either another Solicitor takes over in which case they generally write to new clients, or Law Society will have files.

 

[DirectDevil]

Do you have possession of the original will or just a copy ?

If you have the original there is no problem as that is the one that the executors will submit with a probate application.
If you only have a copy it is as DannyBoyD says.

If you make a new will that nullifies the present one.

AFAIK there is no central registry of wills.

 

[ClubMan]

Do you have possession of the original will or just a copy ?

How exactly is the original of a will identifiable?
If I make a will and have several facsimiles made and signed by the witnesses (and solicitor?) then any copy is valid for official/probate purposes?

 

[MOB]

How exactly is the original of a will identifiable?
If I make a will and have several facsimiles made and signed by the witnesses (and solicitor?) then any copy is valid for official/probate purposes?

Don't do this. There is no place for multiple counterpart wills. Just one signed document. By all means make copies of that for backup.

 

[ClubMan]

Don't do this. There is no place for multiple counterpart wills. Just one signed document. By all means make copies of that for backup.

How would it matter if they were all identical and signed by the witnesses?

What do you mean "there is no place ..."?

 

[MOB]

Contracts can have multiple counterparts- i.e. multiple signed originals. Google "multiple counterpart clause" for lots of detail.

Each time that you execute a will, you are revoking all former wills. So if you sign 4, I guess three are revoked and the very last one signed is the final will. There is just no place in our succession rules for multiple counterparts of wills.

 

[ClubMan]

Contracts can have multiple counterparts- i.e. multiple signed originals. Google "multiple counterpart clause" for lots of detail.

Each time that you execute a will, you are revoking all former wills. So if you sign 4, I guess three are revoked and the very last one signed is the final will. There is just no place in our succession rules for multiple counterparts of wills.

But what matter if they're all identical?

 

[MOB]

When you die, someone has to swear an oath to say, in essence, "this original document is the last will". There is no place in the rules, as they stand, for an oath which says "this is one of four identical original wills executed by the deceased and it therefore has a 25% chance of being the last will". Ok, slightly facetious there, but the rules as they currently exist are all based on the assumption that there is one (and only one) will (and of course you can have codicils).

Yes of course a court would probably admit one of the originals to probate, but it would not be straightforward. Don't do it.

 

[DannyBoyD]

Yet another good reason to introduce a register of wills.

 

[DirectDevil]

Yet another good reason to introduce a register of wills.

+1

My late aunt lived in Texas.
Her will was executed by a lawyer and registered in the "official" register of wills.
When she died the executors simply applied to the Probate Court to start the process.
The additional and practical advantage was that there was no post mortem treasure hunt for the deponent' s will.
Also, the last registered will constituted the actual last will and testament.

 

[DirectDevil]

How exactly is the original of a will identifiable?
If I make a will and have several facsimiles made and signed by the witnesses (and solicitor?) then any copy is valid for official/probate purposes?

By plain inspection.
More particularly, the deponent and the witnesses will have appended their signatures in plain ink.

In relation to facsimiles it might be theoretically possible for the solicitor to make copies of the original and to certify them in writing as being true copies of the original will. However, this generates the multiplicity problem alluded to above.

 

[T McGibney]

+1

My late aunt lived in Texas.
Her will was executed by a lawyer and registered in the "official" register of wills.
When she died the executors simply applied to the Probate Court to start the process.
The additional and practical advantage was that there was no post mortem treasure hunt for the deponent' s will.
Also, the last registered will constituted the actual last will and testament.

So a deathbed will, is null and void? Hardly a good state of affairs.

By plain inspection.
More particularly, the deponent and the witnesses will have appended their signatures in plain ink.

In relation to facsimiles it might be theoretically possible for the solicitor to make copies of the original and to certify them in writing as being true copies of the original will. However, this generates the multiplicity problem alluded to above.

If each facsimile is certified as a true copy of the original, they're clearly not originals and there's no multiplicity problem.

 

[DirectDevil]

If each facsimile is certified as a true copy of the original, they're clearly not originals and there's no multiplicity problem.

Point taken.

I was thinking more of the awful situation whereby the original will cannot be found and might be presumed effectively destroyed.
I have seen one or two of those and they can create seriously unintended consequences/losses for the interested parties.
If you have a copy of the original, certified validly as being a true copy, that might be offered as extrinsic evidence of the existence of the will and it's contents but no guarantees on that one.