By Legal Futures’ Associate Certainty the National Will Register
Fiona Smith, Director at Carlsons Solicitors: “When our client brought in a Will for the deceased believing it to be the last Will, we discovered that it was an unsigned draft and therefore not valid. This meant that we needed to find out if there was a signed copy. The unsigned Will appointed a bank as executor of the Will so we decided to contact the original solicitor that drafted the Will. It was revealed that they no longer held it. Our enquiries lead us to a storage facility where the Will was thought to be stored. After we made contact with the storage facility, they confirmed that they no longer held the Will either and that they had sent the Will back to the testator. They were able to confirm that they had received a letter from the testator advising that the bank was no longer appointed as executor.”
“The way in which the letter was worded made me believe that the deceased had probably written a new Will after the one in question; prompting me to conduct a Will Search Combined. The search discovered a 2015 Will appointing our client as executor. As a result of the search, we won the probate work and are instructed in the administration of the £450,000 estate knowing that we are using the last Will and eliminating the risk of it being an intestacy matter.”
Carlsons Solicitors’ website homepage states, ‘At Carlsons, we do law. And we do it extremely well.’ We couldn’t agree more. Carlsons Solicitors’ approach and attention to detail ensured the correct outcome was achieved.
To find out how a Certainty Will Search finds unknown Wills, proves last Wills and therefore protects all involved in the distribution of an estate call 0330 100 3660 or email enquiries@certainty.co.uk for further information.
