Will

[notanotherone1]

Could someone give me advice please. The lady concerned is not on Mumsnet and has requested that I ask this
The aunt who never married and had no children made a will out to leave her niece everything. Unfortunately the aunty and her niece fell out and the aunty changed the will to reduce the amount the niece got. The aunt has now sadly passed away
The niece had found the original will in the house leaving it all to her but cannot find the new will. She knows there is one and wants to act on her aunts wishes but is unsure who the money is now left to. Is there anything she can do thank you

If it is likely to be the same solicitors try checking with them.

Did the aunt make the will using a solicitor? They may have a copy.

The solicitor had actually closed his practice

Does she actually know there was an updated will, or did the aunt just tell her there was?

@Sarvanga38 she remembers at some point seeing the new will but cannot remember who the beneficiaries were

This is really weird. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone trying to discover who the true recipient of a will is when it looks like they are the sole recipient.

Are you the niece

Maybe it is weird but is how the niece feels. In all fairness to her she is fairly well off herself and doesn't really need the money. However she does want the aunts wishes to be upheld

@Lighrbulbmo no I'm not the niece. She asked me for advice.

Sometimes solicitors merge so she might find the will with another firm. I had to track one down for a relative and it had been passed onto 3 different solicitors as they gradually merged with others over the years. Hope that makes sense.

When a firm moves, closes or amalgamates into another, they usually hold information about who the successor firm would be, or if no successor firm is appointed, they usually hold details of the location of where files may be held.
In the event that they do not hold information of a successor firm, or if they do not hold a location of files, they would search for solicitors who were at the firm at the time of closure who may still be contactable. If they are still practising, they would provide the customer with their current practising details so they could speak with the individual directly.
However, if the individual is not practising, but the Solicitors Registration Authority holds a personal home address, they would offer the customer a forward-on service. The SRA would forward a letter, requesting files only, on the customers’ behalf using the following procedure

I think I’d contact all the local solicitors firms who deal with wills, to see if the aunt used any of them to make the second will.

I'm sure there is a will register of some sort too but it's voluntary. Still worth checking.

You can try conducting a search on the Certainty Will Register. Not all Wills are registered and it does cost money, varying on the level of search, but you can search by geographical area so the local solicitors can check their records.

If you can't find who the solicitor passed on their practice to, you can then apply to the Will Register who will then email around all firms who have an account with them to find out if any of those firms are holding the will.

The National Will Register <[email protected]>

When DH's cousin died we needed to track down the will but the original solicitor had previously passed away and the practice had closed. After looking into will tracing services, it became clear that all of his files would have been passed to another firm. Details would have been sent but we had no paperwork available at all.

In the end I just rang another local firm, it wasn't them but they were able to tell me who the files had been passed to. (We managed to get hold of the will)

It might be worth her trying that.

Thank you ladies for all your helping advice I will pass them on to the lady concerned