Ensure Loved Ones Can Find Your Will After You Have Gone
By Hannah Butterworth, Legal Assistant at Rowlinsons Solicitors
You may have made a will, but do your loved ones know where to find it if you die? If your original will cannot be found after your death, then your estate may be distributed in accordance with the intestacy rules. The danger of this of course being it may not be exactly how you wish.
If you have made more than one will over the years, and the most recent will is not found after your death then your estate may end up being distributed in accordance with an old will, which does not reflect your latest wishes.
You can prevent all this from happening and protect the ones you love by making a professionally drawn Will that expresses your wishes, and registering your will with Certainty, the National Will register.
Making Your Wishes Certain with Certainty, The National Will Register
At Rowlinsons we are members of Certainty, the national will register. We offer to register all of the wills which we prepare for our clients and which are stored with us. But what does that mean for you and your family members?
It means that after death if your family cannot locate your Will, and are not aware that your original will is stored with Rowlinsons, then a simple search on the Certainty national wills register will lead them to contact us.
This does not mean just anyone will be able to find out the contents of your Will or walk away with it in their hand. The will itself remains with us, and its contents are kept strictly confidential. Rowlinsons will act as the ‘guardians’ of your Will and will only release your original Will to your named executors once presented with ID and a death certificate.
Registering your Will helps to ensure that your executors will be able to locate your most recent Will following your death, which in turn ensures that your last wishes will be made known and carried out.
If you would like to discuss making a Will or have your current Will reviewed by one of our solicitors, then please contact Hannah Butterworth on 01928 735 333 for a Free 30 Minute Consultation.