During May and until Friday 4th June, The National Will Register are holding their annual Free Will Registration Month. Throughout the month, The National Will Register have waivered the usual one-off £30 fee to allow members of the public to register their Will for free.
The National Will Register are the Law Society of England and Wales trusted partner and provider of a National Will Register. It is used by the public, the legal profession, law firms, PI insurers, Government agencies, charities and other associated sectors and organisations to register and search for Wills. There are currently over 8.9 million Wills registrations in the system which continues to rise daily.
The National Will Register was set-up to ensure that unknown or untraceable Wills are a thing of the past. Will Registration records the existence of a Will and where the original is stored so that it can be easily located by the named executors and beneficiaries of an estate.
Vicky Box, The National Will Register comments: “The National Will Register’s annual Free Will Registration Month is going really well. We have been inundated from members of the public and law firms who wish to contribute to the campaign. Overall, there has been an 88% increase in Will Registrations in the last six months in comparison to previous years. It’s fantastic to see such a positive response and as a team, we are here to assist everybody who wishes to take advantage of the incentive until Friday 4th June.”
Being able to locate a Will quickly after a death removes the additional emotional turmoil the family can face hunting through their loved one’s possessions. If they do find a copy of a Will, they then have to work out if it is indeed the last Will written and will need to understand where the original is stored, as the original document will be required to distribute the estate. This can be very distressing and create unnecessary uncertainty at a difficult time.
When it’s time to distribute the estate, the responsibility lies with the executor to distribute the estate correctly, a process more commonly known as ‘probate’. The executor is financially liable for any errors made during distribution. It is therefore absolutely imperative that the executors can locate the Will and distribute the assets in line with the Will.
Remember, if you’ve written a Will and it cannot be found then your estate will be distributed under the rules of intestacy. Therefore, posing the threat that those who you may have outlined to inherit could be left with nothing.
Free Will Registration Month is running from Tuesday 4th May until Friday 4th June. To register your Will visit www.nationalwillregister.co.uk and enter the code FreeWillReg2021 when asked. You do not need a copy of your Will to register it and the register does not need to see your Will.