Your Will is the largest cheque you will ever write – it gives away all your assets!
You have decided, sensibly, to make a Will. That document is vitally important: it leaves clear instructions on how you intend your assets to be managed and distributed after your death. It will also explain any other specific wishes you may want to be followed.
The decisions and provisions you have made are incredibly important. To ensure they will be acted upon, you need to ensure your Will is kept safe.
To remain valid, your Will needs to be kept in its original pristine condition. This important step will ensure there are no complications in dealing with your estate as you intended after your death.
It is essential that your Will is stored securely
To this end, Heir Tight Wills provides a fully insured secure document storage service.
Alternatively, you can contact us by phone or email.
How our service works
To ensure your Executors know where to find your Will, our secure document storage service includes:
- The registration of your Will on the National Will Register, so it can be found quickly and easily.
- The registration of your Executors’ details on the storage platform, to prove who has the right to retrieve your Will on your death.
- Provision of electronic ‘Registration’ and ‘Storage’ certificates with a unique reference number for easy retrieval of your documents. You can also forward this to your Executors so they know how they can access it when required.
- A freephone helpline to answer any questions you or your Executors have – giving you the peace of mind that you have a ‘belt and braces’ service.
On your death, even if your registration and storage certificates can’t be found, your Executors can do a simple search on the National Will Register which will tell them where your original signed Last Will is stored.
For added security, your registered Executors will have to provide their proof of identity and a copy of your Death Certificate before your documents will be released from storage to them.
The pitfalls of poor Will storage
Choosing the right option to store your Will is essential. If anything happens to it or it can’t be found, you may as well not have written one.
If your Will is damaged or looks like it has been tampered with by others, the Probate court will deem it to be invalid, as something may have been amended that you didn’t intend.
While it may seem unnecessarily picky to you, from a legal perspective even a paperclip mark will cause problems, as it will look like something was attached to your Will that is now missing.
Alternatively, if your Executors know you had a Will but can’t find it, this will also create problems at Probate. The Probate court will assume you have deliberately destroyed your Will, and all your planned provisions will have been in vain.
In all the above situations, legally you will be deemed to have died Intestate (‘without a Will’ in plain English), and the Rules of Intestacy then take over.
FAQs
Whilst this option is free, it comes with serious risks. It could easily result in accidental damage, loss or theft, damage by fire or flooding. Your Will could also be mislaid during a home move or clear out.
To avoid this your original physical signed Last Will (with your relevant supporting documents, such as your Letter of Wishes providing guidance for your Executors, Trustees and Guardians) must be stored appropriately and securely, so they are easily found and meet the strict requirements of the Probate process.
Our fully insured secure Will and document storage service keeps your important documents safe and protected against all potential hazards, in state-of-the-art facilities, and ensures your Executors can easily access them when needed.
A physical or electronic copy is not an acceptable alternative to the original Will, as the Probate court automatically assumes you destroyed the original. To submit a ‘copy Will’, the court requires signed consent from anyone who would inherit under the Intestacy Rules.
Your Executors then need to collect affidavits from the original witnesses, and provide a sworn legal statement themselves confirming they are happy to apply for Probate with the copy. The Executor must also provide lengthy details on how the original Will was lost, and any steps they took to try and find it. Even with all of this, the court may still reject the copy.
A valid original physical signed Last Will saves money and countless hours for your loved ones.
We recommend you store any relevant documents with your Will that will be required by your Executors after your death. This might include your Prepaid Funeral Plan details and an Expression of Wishes Letter leaving guidance to your Executors and Guardians, and to those you leave behind.
You may also wish to leave your House Deeds, contact details for relevant advisors, an asset summary and so on, which you can then keep as an updated copy with the copy of your Will we send you to store at home.
Our storage partner – Kings Court Trust Ltd – store over 100,000 Wills at a professional storage facility near Corsham in Wiltshire. Originally designed as a secure underground bunker for use in times of war, it has now been professionally converted into a state-of-the-art document storage facility.
The facility offers a number of security features which ensure your Will is completely protected against any risks that could damage or invalidate it:
- A fully air conditioned, temperature and humidity controlled environment
- Full protection against flooding and water damage
- Full protection against fire and smoke using gas suppression agents that will not damage documents
- Bar coded registration to ensure ease of access and retrieval
- A fully secured facility, monitored by CCTV 24 hours a day
- Access limited to registered staff only, enforced by secure entry
The facility meets ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 quality management standards. It also meets the BSI PD 5454 standard for the preservation of archived materials.
Ensure your documents are stored securely
Would you like the peace of mind of knowing that your Spanish affairs are correctly set up during your lifetime, and will be managed in the way you intended after your death, without substantial additional expense and stress for your loved ones?
Please contact Heir Tight Wills & Estate Planning to arrange the storage of your Will and relevant documents, and we will complete the entire process for you.