Can A Solicitor Store My Last Will And Testament?
Posted on 18th May 2020
As local solicitors for Wills, we are often asked whether it’s best for clients to store their own Wills, give them to their Executors, or store them safely with ourselves. Whatever our Wills clients decide to do, ultimately, it’s their choice; however, our team of local solicitors for Wills would always suggest storing original Wills with their local solicitor. Read on to find out why.
Call us on 01524 581 306 (Lancaster), 01995 602 129 (Garstang) or 01772 783 314 (Longridge)
Can I store my Will with MG Legal?
Yes, our team of local solicitors for Wills can store any Wills that they have drafted on behalf of our clients. All solicitors are duty bound to keep all documents in a fire proof safe, in order to keep all your legal papers, including your Will, as safe as possible.
In some (limited) circumstances, we may be able to store a Will which has been drafted by someone other than ourselves, however we would review every matter on a case-by-case basis.
How much will it cost to store my Will with MG Legal?
Nothing what-so-ever, if you have drafted your Wills with our team of local solicitors for Wills. However, if you have drafted your Will elsewhere, we may charge a small fee to set up a new file (which will be needed to allocate your Will storage number to). You can enquire about the fees payable for this service, by contacting our team online, here.
Where are the original Wills stored?
All of our original Wills are stored in our central, head office, with our team of Solicitors in Garstang. They are stored securely, out of sight and reach of any clients attending our offices, and they are only accessed by specific members of staff.
Do I need to know my Will storage number?
No. If you ever wanted to request your original Will, our team would not need you to provide us with the archive number. We would just need to know certain details of the person who made the Will, which we discuss in more detail below.
How do my Executors obtain my original Will?
Usually, when a person has passed away, their loved ones will give us a call to let us know and to find out what they need to do.
We wouldn’t be able to give your family members/Executors any specific advice until after we had had sight of your death certificate.
Quite often, when people have just lost their loved one, they feel that they need to get everything sorted there and then. However, our local solicitors for Wills have to ensure that they are only releasing any information to people who are entitled to it (i.e. to yourself, as the Testator/Testatrix, or to your Executors, once you have passed away). Therefore, it’s essential that we ensure that it’s only the Executors that are able to discuss any information and only after a person has passed away.
Once we’ve had sight of the original death certificate, we then have two options:-
1) We can release the original Will to all named Executors, once our team has had sight of their original ID to prove their identity.
2) Alternatively, we can arrange an appointment with the Executors to discuss what needs to be done to deal with the Estate and how our team of local solicitors for Wills (who also have years of experience dealing with Probate applications and Estate Administration) can help.
How long will it take to obtain my original Will?
When our local solicitors for Wills initially write out to our Wills clients, we advise them that it can take in the region of up to 7 days to retrieve original Wills from archive. However, usually, this only takes a day or two (at most), so you can expect to receive your Will much sooner.
How can I contact MG Legal to discuss drafting my Will?
You can contact our team of local solicitors for Wills online, here, or email wills@mglegal.co.uk to arrange an appointment.
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