How long is a Will valid?

[Trainfromredhill]

DM made a will 25 years ago shortly after DF died suddenly and unexpectly. The 3 DC were teens at the time. It was done with a solicitor and guardians and trustees were established. The only thing I know about the will, aside from the name is one of the trustees, was that it stipulated that any assets would be divided equally between the 3 DC. The DC (of which I am one) are adults now.
does this will still stand after such a long time. DM hasn’t remarried or have any partner, if that makes a difference.

@Trainfromredhill Actually, that's a point. You do have to put in year of death. I'm sorry about that... it's been a long week! 🙄I'm not sure how you'd find out about your mum's in that case, unless you found a copy in her possession.

But I think they are valid indefinitely, unless officially superseded.

Apologies again for the previous post/link. I hope you can get it sorted with your mum.

Best wishes to you.

Do you have PoA for both finance and health? Honestly that is probably more important than the will if she becomes ill or incapable.

If she will listen to your aunt and your aunt is more sensible then that may be the way to go.

BTW - assuming you are in England/Wales for legal execution, rules vary by country.

The link may be very useful if the OP doesn't know the solicitor and/or whereabouts of the will when her DM does die though.

It's a useful point of general information that wills are public documents after a person dies. There are very good reasons why this is the case. But it does mean that there are scumbags who trawl them and target beneficiaries for scams of various types.

Well that's a nice little earner for someone. Do you really change your preferences every 5 years?

All you (or whoever will handle her affairs) need to know now is where the most recent will is kept.

@REP22 can you do that while they are still alive??? I wouldn’t have thought you can look up Anyones will and download a copy!

that’s a probate search for after the person has died and probate has been completed

its not for a search for a will before probate

@Alldelicious . It costs about £40. We have changed our childrens guardians and updated other parts of the will. I’d left a friend who was struggling financially a reasonable chunk of money, she has subsequently inherited a property, so I removed her and reallocated that portion to someone else. I think it’s good practice.

The OP hasn't said she wants to see it now, but once her Mum has died she won't be able to ask her where to find it at that point, when it is needed, will she?

As society, we should all talk about these things more.
I think it would make things much easier, if having to sort out someone's wishes after their death, you knew what these wishes were. If you don't know where people's wills are them what is the point of making a will, as no-one will know your wishes.
I think a lot of us also presume that our partner / spouse knows, without really thinking about the possibility you could go together. We should all let some other people know where to find the information.

We had to redo ours when we married but were told the only things that invalidated it were marriage or making a new one. The solicitor who did it made sure to cover a lot of eventualities we hadn't thought of including splitting it between our current children (named) and any subsequent children.

Solicitors are not required to register the wills with the national wills registry. In fact, I've worked for several firms of solicitors and not one of them has ever done so. Which means that the thousands and thousands of wills from just the offices I've worked in cannot be tracked through a registry. I don't know how many solicitors nationwide use it but if the solicitors your mum used didn't, then you've got a problem.

As pp have suggested, you need to have a chat with your mum and explain that you can only carry out her wishes if you know what they are. So you need to track down the will.

I would start by ringing around all the local solicitors from where she loved at the time it was drawn up. You will need your mum with you though as it's unlikely the solicitors will give you any information if she isn't there to authorise the same.

A wills remains a private document until death so you cannot ask for a copy under any circumstances- even if you have power of attorney. The only person who can request a copy is your mum x

When a sole practitioner or solicitor's form ceases to practice the Solicitors Regulation Authority normally has a record of the "successor firm" so if you don't have any correspondence from your retiring solicitor telling you that "wills stored by his practice will be transferred to Messrs Sue, Grabbit & Run, unless you would like to collect your document", the SRA will be able to tell you which practice took on the wills/probate element of the practice. Alternatively, if you still live in the same area, a quick ring round probate departments of local firms could solve the mystery. Cheaper than new will unless you need to make one due to changes in circumstances