Check Carefully For a Will When a Loved One Dies

We often think that we have to make a will at sometime or other so that we can be sure that our assets don’t get into the wrong hands once we have died. It seems that in some cases making a Will hasn’t had the effect one would expect it to have. Most law firms admitted in a National Will Registry survey conducted recently that they have Wills in storage that have never been accessed by the executive, relatives or beneficiaries after the person who made the Will dies.

Failing to distribute a deceased person’s assets according to their wishes in the Will could be problematic if at some stage relatives believe they haven’t received what they had expected.

Not so long ago, the Lloyds Banking Group uncovered thousands of Wills they weren’t aware of, but had kept in storage, even after the death of the testator. This whole episode led to Lloyds seeking out families who had never seen their deceased relative’s Will. It ended up with around 9, 000 families finding themselves having to come to terms with the contents of these forgotten Wills and even having to redistribute assets and wealth to beneficiaries named in the Will.

So far, no one has threatened Lloyds with court action based on what could be seen as a negligent act, but it could at some time happen to any other legal professional if a Will s/he is responsible for is never acted upon after the testator’s death.

Lloyds told those who were affected that if they needed help with legal expenses sorting out the right beneficiaries that it would cover them.

There are numerous law firms dealing with Wills, as well as independent Will writers who keep their clients’ Wills safe. They don’t always get to know when a testator has died, so the Will might not get to the right people as quickly as expected. Lloyds did admit that many of their Wills had actually been substituted for newer versions, which in a way makes it more difficult to locate Wills that had not been transferred to the executor when they should have been.

Registering a Will helps to solve the problem

The legal professional allocated the Will writing job should try to encourage the testator to register his/her Will on the National Will Register. This would mean that the legal professionals would lose their accountability if the Will was lost or misplaced. The executor, family members and beneficiaries will be able to find out where the Will is being kept so they can find out its contents when the testator dies. Also, the legal professional working on behalf of the testator will know whether the most up-to-date Will has been registered.

For anyone thinking about making a Will and storing it with a legal professional s/he should ensure the instructions on where to find the Will are clear and held by the executor or responsible beneficiary. This helps to ensure the assets of the testator can be distributed according to his/her wishes when s/he dies.