About your will

It’s not popular to think about the consequences of our own mortality, but ignoring it does not make it go away. It’s better to plan and prepare. You won’t have to deal with the consequences of your death, but others will – your partner and your family.  To make things as easy as possible, writing your will is a good first step.  Making sure it is secure, and easy to find, is the next step.  There’s nothing worse for a bereaved family than not knowing where to find the will, or if the version they have is the latest one.

Plus, the Probate Office, which is meant to check that wills are legitimate, has not been doing its job properly, leading to a flood of frauds.  Criminals look out for people who have died without a will, then forge one, leaving everything to themselves, and the family with nothing.

Be kind to your kids

It’s tempting to ignore everything that will have to be done after you die. But if you want to be kind to whoever is mentioned in the will, even if it’s all going to the dog, then making sure your will is securely stored is essential.

Perhaps your kids know that you wrote a will, but do not know where it is.  How many of your files and boxes would they have to search through before they found it?

Plus, what happens to your will if the cause of your death is something bad happening to your house, like a fire?  If the will can’t be found, it can’t be used.

A hANDY investment: tHE wiLL sTORAGE coMPANY

That’s why The Will Storage Company is really handy.  They will securely store your will for just £60.  That’s not the cost per year, that’s the cost for however long it is until it’s needed.  They are document storage professionals, so you can be sure the will is secure.  And they know that security is important, so they will only give your will to the right person at the right time.  Do you kids, or your dog, a favour, and store your will with them!  It’s simple: just order online, then send the will by secure delivery.

If you want your will back, that’s no problem: just send in proof that you are who you say you are, and proof of where you live. If you want to update your will, that’s no problem.  Just send in the new will and it will be stored with the old.

Top reasons to use secure will storage

• Protects original wills and legal documents from damage caused by fire, flooding or poor storage conditions.
• Reduces the risk of loss or misplacement by keeping documents in a professionally managed, secure environment.
• Prevents unauthorised access or tampering after death, helping ensure your wishes are carried out exactly as intended.
• Preserves documents in the correct condition so they can be accepted when applying for Probate or using a Power of Attorney.
• Maintains the confidentiality of sensitive personal and financial information contained within your will.
• Ensures documents can be located and retrieved quickly when required by executors, solicitors or family members.
• Provides peace of mind that important paperwork is stored safely and handled by experienced professionals.

If you die and a will cannot be found, who misses out, and who wins?

The big losers are partners, if they are not formally married or in a civil partnership.  Even if you have been together for years, and bought the house together, they get nothing. Even if they supported you financially for years, they get nothing.  And they’ll probably have to move out of the house because your half share will belong to someone else.

The next big losers are step children.  They too get nothing, if it’s not explicitly given in a will. It doesn’t matter if you bought them up since they were tiny, or if they cared for you as you grew old. It doesn’t matter if they are closer to you than your own kids. They lose out.

And who wins? The government.  There’s a surprise.  If no relatives can be found, it scoops the lot. So, if you don’t want that to happen. write your will, and make sure it’s stored safely.

The rules on who gets what amongst your relatives are quite complex, so we’ve written about them on a separate page.

About your solicitor

If you used your solicitor to help you write your will, you may well have wasted your money.  Unless you are very rich, or have a very complicated life, there are many other ways of having a perfectly good will written.

If you are using your solicitor to store your will, then you may well be wasting even more money.  Can they match a cost of £60 for your lifetime? I doubt it.  And do they have a specialist, purpose-built building designed specifically for the secure storage of documents?  I doubt that, too.  You can probably get a better service, for a lower cost, by using a will storage specialist.

About your house

Your use of your house depends on you being able to prove ownership, and part of that process is the deeds.  When did you last look at them, or check to make sure they are  where you think they are? Are they secure, even if something bad happens to your house?  If your home is badly damaged by flood, or by fire, and the insurance company asks you to prove ownership, can you do that?

That’s Handy: here’s a solution

Of course, we have a Handy solution to offer.  The Will Company also offers secure house deeds storage.  It’s cheap : from just £60 for lifetime storage.  It’s convenient: if you just need to see a copy, they will scan up to 50 pages and email them to you for just £5.  This may well be quicker than having to find the deeds whereever you filed them!  And of course it’s secure, from fire, theft and any other risk.  The Will Company fully understands the responsibility that comes with being entrusted with the most valuable documents in someone’s life.

Lifetime Storage: A Simple One-Off Solution

Many people assume secure document storage involves ongoing yearly fees, but lifetime will storage can often be arranged for a simple one-off payment. This makes it an affordable way to protect important legal documents for the future. It also removes the worry of remembering renewals or changing storage arrangements later in life. The Will Company will store your will, or your house deeds, for £60 for your lifetime. That’s less than the cost of a tankful of petrol!