By Legal Futures’ Associates Certainty National Will Register
The National Will Register is proud to announce that we are now listed in The Professional Deputies Forum’s Directory. The Professional Deputies forum is the representative body for professional deputies.
Last year The National Will Register embarked on a campaign to raise awareness to panel deputies and professional deputies about the important role that The National Will Register has when locating the Will for a person who lacks capacity to manage their own affairs so as to understand their previous wishes and feelings. The results of the campaign saw a 282% increase of Certainty Will Search COP being conducted in 2020 in comparison to 2019.
A deputy has a duty to act in the best interests of the person who they are appointed to act on behalf of which includes taking into account the person’s past and present wishes and feelings, and any relevant written statement made by that person when they had capacity. Having this knowledge of the contents of the Will and/or codicil(s) means they can act in the best interests of the person. A Certainty Will Search will help you to identify if an unknown Wills exists and demonstrates that adequate measures have been taken to consider the wishes and intentions contained in any unknown Wills written by the person. A Certainty Will Search searches for Wills that have been registered on The National Will Register and for Wills that have not yet been registered.
How to understand if a Will or later Will exists
A Certainty Will Search is an important part of any one of the following undertakings:
- applying for Statutory Wills, ascertaining of the existence of any unknown Will(s) prior to the creation of a Statutory Will and be satisfied that the Will presented is the last Will,
- completing Court of Protection form COP1a Annex A: Supporting information for property and financial affairs applications, will require information regarding the location, the executor details and a copy of the Will;
- completing COP1c Annex C: Supporting information for a Statutory Will, codicil, gift(s), deed of variation or settlement of property, will require information and submission of all previous and existing Wills, search before ticking location of Will ‘not known’ for example
- replacing a removed deputy for reasons for example, of financial misfeasance, and overseeing the ongoing matter with the highest level of due diligence
- ascertaining the full extent of the assets of P’s assets in order to properly safeguard them
- ascertaining the importance of P’s relationships with family and friends
- protecting gifts, and making appropriate investments,
- preventing potential adverse outcomes by being aware of the contents of the Will and /or codicils
We are proud to be listed in The Professional Deputies Forum Directory and to contribute towards their ethos of representing the interests of professional deputies and their support staff in England and Wales. You can view The National Will Register’s listing here.
As a Deputy or attorney, you can conduct a Certainty Will Search for Court of Protection matters by visiting The National Will Register website or through The National Will Register and Official Solicitor website.
