How do I find out IF my deceased family member had a will?

billballsac

My elderly dad died suddenly a few weeks ago (mum died in the 1980s) and we don't know if he left a will. I contacted his solicitor (who he last did business with in 1994!) and they don't have one on file. There's always the chance that he left a will with a different solicitor in the interim though we have no idea who that would be after eliminating some likely candidates with suggestions from relatives. He had not left much behind except for the family home.

Is there a centralized database for wills in the country or will I have to blanket email all the solicitors in my county to see if he left a will with them? There will not be a problem between myself and my siblings regarding his estate so what happens when we deal with the probate office and tell them he likely doesn't have a will...surely they will have to confirm if this is true? How do they do this? Perhaps we can do this ourselves...

Thanks all.

Peregrinus

There is no centralised database of wills. You have no reason to tell the authorities about a will until the person who has made it is dead, so until that point they know nothing of them.

If your father made a will, and if he used the services of a solicitor to do so, the solicitor will have pointed out to him that he should tell his nearest and dearest that he made a will, and he should tell them where it is, as otherwise he risks having the will overlooked, which would defeat the whole purpose of making a will. So if your father never said anything to anyone about making a will, there's a sporting chance that he never made one.

You can search through your father's papers, you can ask any bank he did business with if they are holding a will for him (long shot, that one; most banks no longer provide that service) and you can ask any solicitors that you think he might have dealt with. If all of that yields nothing, then proceed on the basis that he never made a will.

billballsac

Thanks man. Such an antiquated process

rock22

Many years ago I had to deal with something similar. I know the solicitor concerned was able to place an ad into a legal journal asking if anyone had a will. We also checked banks etc.

seamus

Peregrinus wrote: »

There is no centralised database of wills. You have no reason to tell the authorities about a will until the person who has made it is dead, so until that point they know nothing of them.

If your father made a will, and if he used the services of a solicitor to do so, the solicitor will have pointed out to him that he should tell his nearest and dearest that he made a will, and he should tell them where it is, as otherwise he risks having the will overlooked, which would defeat the whole purpose of making a will. So if your father never said anything to anyone about making a will, there's a sporting chance that he never made one.

You can search through your father's papers, you can ask any bank he did business with if they are holding a will for him (long shot, that one; most banks no longer provide that service) and you can ask any solicitors that you think he might have dealt with. If all of that yields nothing, then proceed on the basis that he never made a will.

Is there no process for intestacy that does a general, "Please come forward if you know of a will in existence for John Doe", or is it just a matter for the deceased to ensure their affairs are looked after?

Edit: Ha, looks like the question was answered above. I would have thought that should be standard process though. A weekly list is published calling for known wills, and solicitors cross-check it against their own records.

partyguinness

Rather than email bombing every firm in the country some local Law Associations will contact all the local firms in the area for you as they will have the contact details on its system.

Best bet is to contact all the firms in say a 10 mile radius (not sure if you rural or urban based) as a starting point.

You can also contact the Law Society Gazette and put in an ad.

If I was putting money on it I would say that he probably has no Will.

billballsac

partyguinness wrote: »

Rather than email bombing every firm in the country some local Law Associations will contact all the local firms in the area for you as they will have the contact details on its system.

Best bet is to contact all the firms in say a 10 mile radius (not sure if you rural or urban based) as a starting point.

You can also contact the Law Society Gazette and put in an ad.

If I was putting money on it I would say that he probably has no Will.

Thanks, yeah I'm going to go via the Law Society Gazette angle. I think solicitors check that every edition and cross reference with their files. He probably does not have a will but we do need to make a decent effort at confirming that.

Grolschevik

billballsac wrote: »

Thanks, yeah I'm going to go via the Law Society Gazette angle. I think solicitors check that every edition and cross reference with their files. He probably does not have a will but we do need to make a decent effort at confirming that.

That's the way to go. Check the online version for publication dates and fees; there's a monthly deadline and I think it has to be paid before publication. You can follow the format of the other ads to make it easier for you, or the staff at the magazine can probably advise.

If you are engaging a solicitor for probate, they'll do this for you (and add the publication fee to their bill).

Page 67 here: https://www.lawsociety.ie/globalassets/documents/gazette/gazette-pdfs/gazette-2020/aug-sept-2020-gazette.pdf

billballsac

partyguinness wrote: »

Rather than email bombing every firm in the country some local Law Associations will contact all the local firms in the area for you as they will have the contact details on its system.

Best bet is to contact all the firms in say a 10 mile radius (not sure if you rural or urban based) as a starting point.

You can also contact the Law Society Gazette and put in an ad.

If I was putting money on it I would say that he probably has no Will.

Grolschevik wrote: »

That's the way to go. Check the online version for publication dates and fees; there's a monthly deadline and I think it has to be paid before publication. You can follow the format of the other ads to make it easier for you, or the staff at the magazine can probably advise.

If you are engaging a solicitor for probate, they'll do this for you (and add the publication fee to their bill).

Page 67 here:

Cheers, I emailed the Gazette today and they are getting back to me next week with details on how to proceed. I also emailed his last solicitor (from 25 years ago!) and asked them if they have an email list of local solicitors that they could share. If so, then I'll blanket email the lot.

JustAThought

Sorry to hear about your Dad OP.

‘Our’ current solicitor is charging us 280 Per Hour or oart thereof & VaT and bank transfer charges and admin costs and 0.5% of the value of the house for dealing with a fairly straightforward ‘probate’. Maybe your Dad realised after his last dealings with his solicitor that if you agree and organise it yourselves you could be far better off.

Thats on top of another 6k for services in relation to the probate (fair deal) littered with costly delays and significant and fairly basic mistakes.

Best of luck with it. The probate office are cery helpful and give good assistance.

rock22

rock22 wrote: »

Many years ago I had to deal with something similar. I know the solicitor concerned was able to place an ad into a legal journal asking if anyone had a will. We also checked banks etc.

Isn't this all covered in probate?

Op, a solicitor will perform these functions for you

rock22

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

Isn't this all covered in probate?

Op, a solicitor will perform these functions for you

What?

rock22

rock22 wrote: »

What?

Checking for wills and assets

margaretdublin

You mentioned your Dad left only his house and everything is fine with your siblings so you just need to go to a solicitor who will take out probate on your late fathers estate.
If your father had a will the executor named could handle this but in this case your solicitor needs to do it. From past experience with a similar situation in our family the probate took about 6 months longer and I don’t think the solicitors fees were much more,
So if you have no luck finding a will don’t stress as it will be all sorted just ring around a few solicitors ask for a quote and a timeline or get a recommendation from friends etc.

GerardKeating

billballsac wrote: »

Thanks man. Such an antiquated process

Not really, you've seen the "fuss" in the media about the new regulations about pubs keeping track of food orders.

Now imagine the uproar if the goverment required people to centrally register all wills

spurious

If he has a will, he would have been told to let the Executors know they are executors. They would usually be family or friends. If nobody has been told/asked about being an executor, then he probably doesn't have a will.

Sorry for your loss. It's hard enough deal with that without also having to deal with the will situation too.

snoopy84

billballsac wrote:

Thanks, yeah I'm going to go via the Law Society Gazette angle. I think solicitors check that every edition and cross reference with their files. He probably does not have a will but we do need to make a decent effort at confirming that.

We did this
Many years ago mind.
Contacted his solicitor and every other solicitor we could think of and put several ads with the law society and couldn't find anything. After many painstaking years and family fall outs later
Me and my father were in the house checking damage after a storm and found the will hidden inside the roof. Turns out the solicitor who made the will retired and his cases were taken on by several others but none of them checked the law society ads and still to this day the original hasn't been found

Boxcar_Willie

Slightly off-topic but is there any way to check the contents of a Will ?
In particular where a Will exists and a family member is executor and has not fully informed remaining family about its contents and they believe that they are beneficiaries of the deceased persons property .
The Will did go to probate .

Pistachio19

Boxcar_Willie wrote: »

Slightly off-topic but is there any way to check the contents of a Will ?
In particular where a Will exists and a family member is executor and has not fully informed remaining family about its contents and they believe that they are beneficiaries of the deceased persons property .
The Will did go to probate .

If probate has been granted then you can request a copy of the will for a fee.

http://www.supremecourt.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/pagecurrent/B4C951B57339C2C98025810F0057286D?opendocument

bobbyy gee

Look at his bank to see if. He has a lock box
Also check his house
If the solicitor. Has not got one there probably no will

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/the_deceaseds_estate/what_happens_the_deceaseds_estate.html#:~:text=A%20testator%20is%20a%20person,can%20do%20in%20a%20will.

partyguinness

Bear in mind that the vast majority of people do not have a Will.