Prior to Certainty the National Will Register [1], searching for a Will to prove the last Will being used to distribute an estate or to establish whether an unknown Will existed was at best time consuming, costly and usually inaccurate. In fact, for most solicitors the old way to achieve this was never really an option and often not undertaken. Since the launch of Certainty the National Will Register, the new way is far simpler, cheaper and effective! Certainty the National Will Register offers solicitors the opportunity to check both the millions of Wills in the register and also geographically for Wills that have not been registered.
Mrs Duffy contacted Certainty the National Will Register to try and locate her father’s Will which she knew he had written but simply did not know who had written it or where it was kept.
Mrs Duffy comments: “After my father’s funeral, I was aware that my father had previously written a Will over 20 years ago with my mother. I went to a local solicitor to discuss how to find the Will and they quoted me over £150 an hour to send out relevant letters and paperwork to try and locate the Will which would result in it costing me over a thousand pounds!”
“I recalled when arranging the funeral, an advertisement for Certainty the National Will Register and decided to get in contact with them to see if they were able to help. They were able to assist me. Firstly to check if my father’s Will had been registered, and if not, search for it in geographically targeted areas. Most shocking was that the Certainty Will Search was a fraction of the cost that the solicitor quoted me and as far as I was concerned, was much more comprehensive and extensive.”
Within a week the Certainty Will Search located the Will for Mrs Duffy’s father. Mrs Duffy’s details were passed to the solicitor holding the Will for them to authenticate her search enquiry prior to the existence of the Will being disclosed to her by the solicitor.
Mrs Duffy continues: “It wasn’t the one I expected that was written around 20 years ago! My father had written a Will in 2017 that the search located, a year after my mother had died, which changed the Executor and Beneficiaries of the estate.”
“I have now been able to make sure that my father’s estate is being distributed in the way he intended it to be.”
For further information on the types of searches you can carry out please contact us on 0330 100 3660 or email enquiries@certainty.co.uk [2].
…Real life Stories from the legal profession…