General Chat

Through a solicitor and you die alone how is it dealt with, does it need someone that knows you have passed to apply for it?
More questions to follow.....maybe x. Thanks.

It is a good question.

Someone had to find the will first. If a friend or neighbour finds it then one would assume they would contact the solicitor, otherwise the council gets involved. But maybe someone here actually knows the answer.

Well if it’s not known a will exists it can’t be probated

Some estates go on the bona vacanti list and then may get picked up by heir Hunter companies

It’s always possible in a clear out of a home some correspondence will be found indicating some solicitor contact

Solicitors usually hold your will if they have witnessed it and give you a copy of it. They are the ones who need to be advised if they have the original will. If so, why not leave a note somewhere prominent at home with your solicitor's details on so anyone would know who to contact. You could also have your solicitors details in your phone.

Our solicitor, who is also our executor, told us to give our doctor a copy of our Powers of Attorney in case he became concerned about us needing someone to act for us about health decisions etc. (we have no family or siblings). I think it would be a good idea to give your doctor a copy of your solicitors details in the same way. Even if your solicitor is not your executor, the original will they hold would show who is. Why not ask your solicitor what's best to do?

We left our wills with the solicitors for safe keeping but we did have correspondence to do with them plus pro forma ones

When hubby died I contacted the solicitors on the old telephone nos to find the original ones had gone out of business and the new ones had taken over the old premises and old tel nos

Thank goodness,!

So they had filed away all old correspondence and wills etc into a storage unit and they took a week to find the wills . I took both of them so mine is now at home in a file with all the paperwork my daughter will need when the time comes

At least she won’t be fumbling around not knowing who to inform and have the will to do probate on ;-)

Hubby and I made wills nearly 20 years ago and they were left with the solicitor. A few years later we heard that the solicitor had gone to jail for fraud and all documents in her office were sent to a new solicitor for safekeeping. We decided to leave them with the new solicitors and just last year decided we were going to make new wills so tried to get in touch with the solicitor only to find that they had been closed down by the solicitors regulating authority (goodness only knows why).

After getting in touch with this authority they have told us they can't find the wills at the moment and it could take quite a while for them to find them. Not that this will stop us making new wills.

My hubby's brother died in 2017 and his wife (who has no other family apart from us and one cousin) found that Age Concern has a really good booklet that lets you fill in details of absolutely everything you could possibly need to let people know about when you die. She has filled it in and left a copy for her cousin and us and she says that it has given her peace of mind that everything is organised for us (or anyone else who has to deal with her affairs).

Whoever you name as executors of your will should be told where to find the will and if the solicitors are the executors then you would need to let someone else know who the solicitors are if anything happens to you.

Kath. x

Try list site for info

https://www.ellisonssolicitors.com/news/making-a-will-if-you-have-no-family-or-are-estranged/

I think if you are on your own, ie no partner, no children, no siblings or family at all, then you need to go to a solicitor and make your will explaining there is no family. The persons belongings, monies or property etc would be detailed in the will where it is to go. ie charity or elsewhere.

But the person making the will surely would have a good friend or neighbour? They really would need to consider giving a copy to 1 or 2 people. Someone suggested the GP because they would be informed of the persons death and then they would access the will and let the solicitor know.

ZZzzz you asked who can apply for it? Do you mean if you are a relative, then you can lodge an interest? The solicitor should at the time of composing the will discuss what relations are living.They often put notices in local papers inviting people with an interest in the estate of whoever to contact them where there is no immediate family as there could be distant cousins.
As someone else said, you see this on Heir Hunters. Everyone nearly always has a cousin somewhere even if you have never met them.

But ask the solicitor as they will be the experts who can give you all the info you need.

Florence in the hebrides

Thank you all for your help and advice, we have made wills through a solicitor and estranged family have been named as not getting anything and why, I'm quite confident now that in the unlikely event they find that one or both of us have passed they won't be able to contest it.
Thanks again everyone. Xx.