Genealogy Chat

Whilst working this morning i had a thought - i dont have many - i deal with Wills and Probates on a daily basis and today was dealing with a Will that will never be probated due to the fact that the estate is not large enough. These Wills are then effectively lost forever in a law offices darkest dungeon - my tip would be (and i know this would be painful at the time) is to request a copy of the Will of a relative that has passed on at the time because it will be too late otherwise and i suspect that that is why some Wills are never found (the most obvious is perhaps the will of the first partner in a husband\wife relationship where all assets are in joint names) i hope all this makes sense and is not tooooo long winded. Heather Bournemouth DOR

Heather, Thanks for the tip. The problem being that you don't think about something like that until it's too late! Jill Oswestry, Shropshire

Rosalind No, a will going to probate means that it is being proved, so any Will that is not probated\proved is therefore not a public document. i don't know why i didn't think of this for everyone before - senior moments but i was just putting a Will away yesterday and i thought that this will is now "lost" forever to any future researchers. so the moral of the exercise is, if you have a relative who you think had a will but whose estate was not large (at present most estates over £5K are proved) or where first partner in a marriage has died and assets are in joint names is to get a copy of the Will from the survivor (there may be names and addresses on that Will that will disappear on the future Will of the survivor) hope this helps. Heather ps if you want any further info please let me know. if you wish to email me at work [email protected] my email addresses at home are lost at present.