The 10 millionth Will has been registered on the UK’s register of Wills
The National Will Register announced that they now have over 10 million Wills registered in their system.
A study in 2021, carried out by insurance provider Canada Life, found that around 2 in 5 UK adults, or 21 million people, have made a Will – meaning that The National Will Register claims to have nearly half of all Wills written registered in their system.
The National Will Register was founded in 2006 as Certainty The National Will Register in response to the personal challenges of trying to find the Will of a loved one after they had passed away.
With no central record of Wills written in the UK, the process of finding a Will was left to cold-calling solicitors and Will writers in the main, making for a long, arduous and distressing situation at a difficult time.
Since then, The National Will Register has grown to become the trademarked National Will Register for the UK providing Will Registration and Certainty Will Search services to the public and Wills and probate professionals in its mission to ensure that no Will is left unknown, untraced or unused at the time it is needed.
In 2021, The National Will Register became part of Advanced, a leading provider of solutions for the legal market.
One in five located Wills impact estate administration
The National Will Register registers the location of Wills into its system so that it can be searched for and located by those who are entitled to the document at a time when it is needed such as when a loved one passes.
In 2022, one in five instances where a Will was located through a Certainty Will Search impacted the way that an estate is administered, as a Will was found in instances either where a Will was unknown to the executor, or where the executor only had knowledge of a Will made prior to the one located.
Doug Hargrove, Managing Director for Legal and Education at Advanced, spoke of the importance of the 10 million Will milestone for accuracy in the sector: “The National Will Register is a key tool for anyone involved in handling the affairs of a loved one after their passing.”
“By having a register of over 10 million Wills available to search, and additional services to locate unregistered Wills with other law firms and will writers, we come closer to protecting the wishes of everyone who has made a Will, and those who are looking to do right by them through what is an already difficult process.”
“We’re delighted to have reached 10 million Wills in the system as we are now able to help so many more people. With every Will registered, we get closer to ensuring that every Will made in the UK can be found and acted upon when it is needed.”
The National Will Register is offering free Will registration between now and the New Year to highlight the importance of not only writing a Will, but registering it too – as 10 million people already have done. To register your Will, log on to www.nationalwillregister.co.uk/register-a-will/ and use code 10M until December 31st.
