It is not uncommon for a client to be in possession of a Will that they believe may not be the last Will written by the testator.
Elizabeth Middleton, Principle at Elizabeth Middleton Solicitors, comments: “As a firm we always advise our clients to perform a Certainty Will Search, you cannot simply take the risk especially when The National Will Register offers the added protection that both the firm and client need. Certainty Will Search compliments our services as a firm as it adds value and an additional safeguard to probate work.”
“When our client approached us to conduct the estate distribution work for his father’s estate, he was already in possession of a Will that was registered with The National Will Register. The Will named him as the sole beneficiary but he believed his father may have written a later Will, and so we advised that he should conduct a Certainty Will Search to locate any other later Will that his father may have written.”
A Will Search Combined was conducted which checks The National Will Register for registered Wills (circa 8 million in the system) and performs a geographically targeted search amongst solicitors and Will writers in the areas where the deceased lived and worked, using The National Will Register’s REACH search system.
“The Certainty Will Search found the 2002 Will which was registered on The National Will Register, and was the Will our client was already in possession of; confirming that we held the last Will. Our client felt better protected as he knew he had done everything he could to confirm the last Will before the estate was left to him.”
The Certainty Will Search not only provided reassurance but also protection prior to distributing the estate.