How do I find my aunts will?

The Clerk of Court has the authority to compel an individual to produce a Will. Try giving the Clerk of Court in the county and state where your aunt was living when she passed away.

What happens if you lose the original copy of a will?

If you are still unable to locate the original Will, then you may be able to obtain a Grant of Probate with a copy of the Will. If the Will is lost because a person other than the Will Maker (such as a solicitor or a bank) has lost it, then it should be possible to obtain a Grant of Probate of the copy Will.

What do you do if you find a will?

If you have found a copy of the signed Will, but not the original, this can be sent to the Probate Registry with an application for a Grant of Probate. You will also need to send a sworn document stating that the original cannot be found and giving details of the attempts made to locate it.

What to do if you cant find a Will?

Go through any paperwork you can find and make a note of any law firm or bank that the deceased has had dealings with. Write to those organisations and ask if they have the Will. If they do, and you have been named as an Executor, then you have the right to collect the Will.

Can a copy of a will be found?

Or it might simply have gone missing in the post, or been incorrectly filed by a storage provider. There may be circumstances which suggest it has been destroyed and it is unlikely the original will ever be found, such as fire, flood or burglary. In all these cases you can apply to Probate to prove a Copy Will.

What happens if you can’t find an original will?

The main reason an original will is typically required is the presumption of revocation. That means that when the original will cannot be found, there is a legal presumption that the reason it can’t be found is because it was revoked.

What is the legal position on copy Wills?

So here is a brief discussion of the legal position regarding Copy Wills. For an estate to be administered in accordance with the terms of the final Will of the deceased, the original Will is sent to the Probate Registry who will then issue a Grant of Probate to the executors.

What should I do if my will is missing?

If a will is missing because it was stored in a bank vault destroyed in a fire, the probate court may accept a photocopy of the will (or the lawyer’s draft or computer file). However, the court will probably require evidence that the decedent properly signed the original. If the original will simply can’t be found, then what do you do?

Can a copy of a will be admitted in place of the original?

But if copy of the Will does exist, and you can provide adequate proof to overcome the presumptions of revocation, the Court may allow a copy of the Will to be admitted in place of the original. What happens if I find the original Will later after admitting a copy?

What happens when you can’t find the original will?

Or the Will is simply not in the place in which they said it would be. You slowly begin to realize that you have a problem. You can’t actually find your loved one’s Will, or can only find a copy of the Will. Your natural question is “what do I do now?” Courts always prefer the original documents.

What happens if there is no will and no copy of the will?

In a worst case scenario, if you can find no will and no copy of a will after a diligent search, state laws treat the testator’s estate as though she died without making one. This is called “dying intestate.” The court will appoint an executor and will distribute her assets to her immediate heirs according a formula prescribed in the state’s laws.

How can I get a copy of the will of a deceased person?

Wills are typically filed in probate courts based on the county in which a deceased person lived at the time of his or her death, or the county in which the deceased person owned real estate. Once a person determines the correct probate court, he or she can see if their loved one’s will has been filed, by checking a court’s probate docket, online.