Losing The Will

Legal background

A Will does not take effect until after death and, generally speaking, it can be changed or revoked at any point during the testator's lifetime. A Will can be revoked by the preparation of a new Will stating that the old Will is revoked or it could be destroyed by the testator. After the death of the testator, it might be necessary for those close to the deceased to undertake a search for a Will.

Sometimes the original Will cannot be found or only a copy can be produced. In these circumstances the personal representatives are placed in a difficult position. The starting point is that the original Will must be provided with the application for probate (as a copy will not normally be accepted by the Probate Registry (subject to some exceptions). It is therefore essential that the deceased's original Will is located but this is not always straight forward if the deceased had not discussed the Will with the personal representative prior to their death.