Solicitor won’t give me Dad’s will

[AlexaAmbidextra]

My parents made wills around twelve years ago and at the solicitor’s advice, put them into solicitor’s storage facility. Both parents had me, only child and sole beneficiary, as executor together with a good friend of my Mum’s. They only did this in the belief it would be easier for me. Mum died ten years ago and my Dad has just died.

I’ve applied for probate under the new online system stating that I am the sole applicant and I’m now required to send the Probate Registry the original will and death certificate. The problem is the solicitor who has the will won’t hand it over to me as there is a co-executor named.

I lost touch with this person years ago. The phone number I have for her is unobtainable and I’ve written to her and received no reply. The solicitor tells me that I now have to trawl social media, the Land Registry and the Electoral Role in an attempt to find her before they will hand over the original will.

I wish I’d kept the damn thing under my mattress and avoided this farce. Any guidance would be very welcome. Can they actually do this?

Have you considered a private enquiry agent? Sounds a bit Gumshoe, I know, but I think this is pretty much the sort of standard thing they do.

Hi

Sorry to hear about your parents and what grief to try to process everything

There is a website 192.com that for a small fee you can search the electoral roll. Start with co-executor name and last address. You’ll find them that way, then where they have gone to (if in UK)

On archives.com you can also search for death certificates in the UK

If you can find out from either estate agent or new owners if the sale was an estate sale, that’ll narrow down your search

If not an estate sale, ask estate agent if they would please pass on a letter either to co-executor or their solicitor. Due to data privacy, there is only so much the estate agent can tell you.

I hadn't a similar issue when my dad died, except that he had 2 executors, one of whom had died many years earlier. I had to obtain a copy of his death certificate, which took ages as I had to find out when he'd died!

Speak to the Probate Office, they may be able to tell you the steps you'd need to take here (it's a difficult situation) and what they would need to let you be the sole executor. Sorry for your loss.

Thank you all. I’ve spoken to the relevant Probate Registry and they are happy to accept me as sole executor and have said that the solicitor can send the original will direct to them via their Document Exchange System if they don’t want to hand it to me. Now I just need the solicitor to agree to this sensible course of action. Fingers crossed.

That sounds positive, it's the Probate Office who will have the final say and it sounds like you've done enough - good work OP! I hope it runs smoothly from here.

Success! I have tracked her down via her husband whose name I suddenly remembered. Thank you all for your kind suggestions.

As aAlberta suggested upthread, they probably don’t require you to actually find this person, just to demonstrate that you made every reasonable effort to find her. I was in a similar position with an absentee freeholder when I wanted to extend our lease. I tried electoral roll ( he wasn’t on it), last known address, visiting the office of the solicitor named on some official document he’d signed, contacting by letter everyone in phone book of same surname . When that led to nothing the solicitors insisted they’d employ a professional researcher to do it! (and bill me of course). He never found the freeholder either . Hopefully your solicitor won’t be so pernickety. I suspect ultimately they do this to cover their own back in case they are ever audited. Sooner or later this process will cease ( when solicitor decides enough has been done) and you’ll be able to get on with probate.

Sorry Alexa, didn’t read your last post . Well done on finding her!