When someone dies, most of us will be overwhelmed by grief and loss. Death is ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.
A death comes with an administrative burden that is probably the last thing you want to think about when you are coping with sadness and pain. Nevertheless, tracing a will is one of the duties you have to your loved one. With any luck, the process will be straightforward, and it will be easy enough to find the last will.
Tracing a will quickly
If you are an executor of the will, hopefully your relative will have told you where to find it.
Additionally, they might have written this down so tracing a will is quick. Most of the time, people leave their will with the solicitor who drew it up. They store the original and give a copy to the testator. A will writing service is another potential place to look, or if you are in England and Wales you can check with the Probate Service.
People can choose to store their will themselves—in a safe in the home or with other important paperwork, so if you are tracing a will it’s worth investigating these places. There is always a risk the will might have been thrown away accidentally or damaged. If someone has attached another document to the will with staples or paper clips, these can leave marks on the will and this raises questions as to whether it is missing a part of an amendment. Such action risks slowing up the probate process.
You can also consider asking other relatives and friends. Your relative might have told some people and not others about where they have stored their will.
Unique missing will service
Finders International offers a unique missing will service where we help you in tracing a will, as well as missing, dormant and unclaimed assets with the UK and overseas bankruptcy searches. Our missing will service is pre-approved for AVIVA missing will insurance, so that you are covered if a will does turn up unexpectedly.
Our search is local, but we can extend it to other towns, cities and counties which might be valuable if your relative moved around a lot. And please note: we can offer you our Missing Will Service for help in tracing a will free of charge if you want us to find missing or unknown heirs too (on a contingency fee basis).
If you would like to get in touch with Finders International regarding tracing heirs or assets to estates, please contact us today on Freephone 0800 085 8796 or email [email protected].