will cannot be found

M

moonman

Registered User
Messages
199
a last remaing relative has died and always said that he made a will. the local solicitor retired about 8 years ago . it would have been the only solicitor he would have gone to as the practice was the only one in the town. none of the family can find the will in the house it is definitely not there. would the local solicitor have registered it with the court, or is that the done thing. if a will cannot be found will the family have to go to a solicitor as the only asset is the house.
 
When Solicitor retired they would have passed their files on to another practice. Find out who that was and check with them.
 
the family have enquired in about 3 or 4 of the nearest solicitors and this is a spread of about 5 miles and its unlikely he would have gone that far away from his home, they have had no success. if a will was moved to another solicitors office does the solicitor notify the local or probate court or do they just keep it in a filing cabinet in the new location. does anyone know if solicitors register a will in a court .
 
No the will would not be lodged in court. Normally a solicitor who is engaged to act on the probate will put a notice in the Law Society's Gazette to try and find the will. Is there any documentation in the house that verifies that the relative consulted a solicitor. Just because they said they made a will doesn't mean they did. Also check out the credit union, they used to have solicitors for this service and your relative might have had it done via one of those.
 
All of the deceased solicitor's files will have been passed on to another solicitor and the Law Society will be able to tell you what solicitor they were forwarded to.
 
Bronte i think you may be correct he may have said he made one just to keep family members from trying to convince him to do it. i think we will contact the law society, thanks everyone for your informed answers.
 
My sister died and had said she made a will but she did not. Got a listing in the gazette to call on any law firm that may have one but none came forward. So we had to deal with her estate as administration.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top