Can't find the will

[YNK]

My neighbour made a will 30y ago at a solicitor who has long since shut up shop.
My first question is - is it still valid after all that time?

His wife is frantic.

I've told her to take her time looking through the paperwork but after that where's her next port of call please?

Yes. A will remains valid indefinitely. Unless he made another will or remarried, his will is still valid. If it genuinely can't be found and there are no copies, his estate should be dealt with as if he died without making a will. However, before arriving at that conclusion, it is worth checking with other local solicitors to see if any of them has the records from the closed solicitor and, if so, whether they have a copy of the will.

When my mother died unexpectedly and I couldn't find her will I rang around local solicitors, one of them mentioned that they were holding all of another solicitors wills as they had closed. Maybe try that. We did eventually find it in her home but everyone I called was very nice and helpful.

Thank you both so much.

That will really settle her mind.

I think the Law Society keep records of solicitors who have shut/sold to other firms so that might be worth trying too. I don’t know but I imagine solicitors have to dispose of important documents properly if they shut.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority may hold the Will (they had my MIL's).

www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/claim-papers/#intervention-archive

Or try Certainty who will send out an email to all the local solicitors who will check whether they hold it (as a pp mentioned, we hold the wills for several local firms who have closed down).

certainty.org.uk/nafd/search/

Bear in mind that if he married after making the will (and the will wasn't "made in anticipation of the marriage to " his wife) then it would have become invalid upon his marriage anyway.