Biscoes is a very longstanding law firm established over 160 years ago and a member of Certainty the National Will Register [1]. Committed to the provision of a traditional and locally based legal service providing first class service throughout their seven offices, they also have a 21st Century approach to best practice and risk management!
In a recent probate matter, acting as joint Executor, they were fairly sure that they held the last Will. However Biscoes take steps to ensure every base is covered and everyone is protected when distributing an estate by not making assumptions on which is the last Will.
Liyen Edin, Solicitor, Biscoes comments; “We were in possession of a 2015 Will for the deceased prior to our Certainty Will Search however needed to ensure that this was the last Will, and no later Will existed before proceeding to distribute the estate. As joint Executor we felt it was important to conduct a Certainty Will Search ensuring that all available steps had been taken to protect ourselves and our client, and ultimately the estate.”
Another Certainty member responded to the search to state that they had written a Will for the deceased but that Will pre-dated the Will that Biscoes had subsequently written and were holding.
Liyen continues; “After the Will Search revealed an earlier Will, we were confident that we held the last Will of the deceased. This allowed us to distribute the estate to the sole beneficiary, a significant amount, which we were confident was going to the rightful person. We were holding a Will that some may deem recent, only being written in 2015, however as best practice, and the solicitor responsible for ensuring the estate was distributed correctly, conducting a Certainty Will Search provided us with the added protection and knowledge that we had done everything to prove that it was the last Will.”
Certainty Will Search Combined:
- Checks the National Will Register (7.8 million Wills records in the system)
- Searches nationally in geographically targeted areas for Wills that have not been registered! If a Will is not registered, a search notification is sent to law firms (both members of Certainty and non-members) and Will writers (IPW & SWW members)
- A Will search report is issued at the end of the search. This can be placed on file to demonstrate that adequate steps have been taken to prove the last Will or that a Will did not exist
A Certainty Will Search Combined is an allowable disbursement from the estate of £95 +vat.
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 [2] for further information.