The National Will Register reported that it is starting to seeing Will searches being performed from those suffering a bereavement as a result of Covid-19.
Feedback from people searching is that they need to locate a Will quickly in advance of a funeral to understand if the deceased’s Will contained funeral wishes. In such cases, the people performing a Will search are searching because they are either self-isolating, do not want to enter the home of others who may have or are suffering with the Covid-19 virus, or enter the home of a victim of the virus to look for evidence of a Will.
A spokesperson for The National Will Register commented: “The majority of Will searches are usually undertaken by executors prior to probate to ensure they are in possession of the very last Will or to locate a Will that they were unaware of in order to distribute the estate safely and without risk to them. However, in the current crisis our response times also remain high for those performing a Will search for funeral purposes.
Due to the current crisis, people will inevitably find themselves in a financially vulnerable situation and will require to start the probate process immediately to access their inheritance sooner rather than later, a Will search will help speed up that probate process.”
The National Will Register is The Law Society’s endorsed provider of a National Will Register and is also recommended by the Citizens Advice Bureau and Which? for those dealing with a bereavement or writing a Will and has over eight million Wills in the registration system, currently a large proportion of Wills written by solicitors and Will writers.