30 years ago - ? Left a will

[DustyLee123]

My parent died 30 years ago, and my step parent told me they hadn’t left a will.
If they’d left a will would it have been registered somewhere, could the step parent have just disposed of it?
I know it’s a long shot, but it’s something that preys on my mind from time to time.

There’s no requirement to ‘register’ a will, so it’s impossible to find out. Yes, there’s a possibility your mum or dad had a will because usually people make them on remarriage, and yes it’s possible your step parent could have disposed of it without anyone knowing. Whether that’s likely is something only you can judge - was your mum or dad the type to get all their affairs tidied up legally? Is your step parent the type to do something like disposing of a will?

But you should remember that any will they did have might have left everything to their wife or husband anyway. It’s best to just make your peace with what happened.

Unless it was proven and admitted to probate there's no central register where it's existence would be recorded.

Do you have any idea of the circumstances in which a will might have been made eg with a firm of solicitors or in a particular town.

Assuming step mum and your dad were married any will he made before their marriage would almost certainly have been invalidated by marriage.

I’m being told by their friends that they had a will, that they told them I was taken care of. But step parent said there wasn’t one. I absolutely wouldn’t put it past them to have destroyed a will.

If there was no will, depending upon the size of the estate, a child might inherit in England - it is not necessarily automatic that it goes to spouse. The spouse gets a certain amount, children the rest.

If there was no will then you would have inherited as next of kin wouldn't you? A will may have carried further instructions

Not if her father was married to the Step Mother.

Yes they were married