Most Certainty Will searches are undertaken to prove the last Will, confirm an estate is intestate or by a third party who believes the last Will is being suppressed to benefit the would be beneficiaries. Below is not a typical case but not unusual either. It involves a recently bereaved and grieving widow who was unaware of the whereabouts of her late husband’s Will. In this particular case the solicitor dealing with the matter advised their client to carry out a Certainty Will Search and was duly instructed to carry out the search on their behalf. Within a short period of time the Certainty Will Search located the Will allowing the estate to be distributed correctly.
Search Case Details
Date of Will Search – 27th September 2017
Date of Will Find – 27th September 2017
Will Find Details – Will had been registered with Certainty the National Will Register and was in secure storage with National Will Safe (National Will Safe is a leading Will and legal document storage facility based in the UK)
Searcher – Solicitor from a law firm based in Preston
Client – Wife of deceased husband
The search used in this case was a Register Will Search priced at £33+vat.
NB: A Certainty Will Search Combined performs the following searches and is an allowable disbursement from the estate of £90+vat;
Register Search – Check to see if a Will has been Registered with Certainty the National Will Register (The National Will Register currently has in excess of 7 million records and rising)
Law Firm Search – a geographically targeted search for Wills that have not been registered (includes Certainty members and non-member law firms)
Will Writer Search – a geographically targeted search for Wills written by Will writers from both the Institute of Professional Will writers and The Society of Will Writers
Storage Facility Search – a search for Wills held in storage facilities
Reports – provides a file report stating a National Will Register Will search was undertaken
Not sure when to advise your client to search?
With at least one in every ten Certainty Will Searches finding a Will for an estate that was assumed to be intestate or a Will that revoked the one being used to distribute the estate it is important that you advise your client of their options correctly.
For a guide on how and when to advise your client to search please request the Will Search guide.
If you are acting as a Professional Executor please do not hesitate to contact the Will search team for assistance.
…Real life Will search stories from the legal profession…
