How do I find out whether there is a will?

If you cannot find a will (or a copy) in the home of the person who has died, ask the person’s bank and his or her solicitors if they know where it is. You can also:

• Conduct a Certainty Will Search which is used by a number of law firms to register wills and access Certainty’s will-finding services. DFA Law LLP can help you with this.
• Check whether the person who has died left his will with the Principal Registry of the Family Division, You can make the search for the will either by contacting it or a district registry in another area close to you. The general term used for either the Principal Registry or a district registry is the Probate Registry.
• Place advertisements in the Law Society’s Gazette asking for information about a will that the person who died might have made.
• Contact the local Law Society office who will circulate a general will enquiry to all the local law firms.

A comprehensive article on this and related issues can be found here on our website by following this link.