Missing Will

[1987qwerty]

In the UK. My Uncle passed away a few weeks ago. No sign of, or any paperwork relating to his will. Aunt has no idea who they went to.

Is there a central database of wills that Solicitors can check against?

Aunt should inherit anyway but would rather locate the will

mine is registered with the national will register but you don't have to. https://www.nationalwillregister.co.uk I don't think they actually keep the real will but can give your aunt details if the will is registered there. Its a long shot but if she knows roughly when the will was made, his bank or credit card records might show who he paid for it.

Assume aunt has rung round all the local socilitors to ask?

Is there a reason to think there is a will? Many people don't have one.

Thank you for the responses. Aunt is certain they did wills some years ago. Very little paperwork in the house.

Could he have something like a safe deposit box somewhere?
have you checked garage/shed?
Its quite unusual to have that little paperwork

oh! I didn't know you could still do this but it looks like its still possible to lodge the actual will with the probate service. Is your aunt's will still there?
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service

You can hire a company to do a trace. They call all local solicitors to find out if a will was made. There is no central database

One would expect her to have a copy of her own Will, in which case it will probably bear the name of the solicitors that prepared it.

If she's lost her own as well then as she will be entitled to his estate anyway it's not worth spending money on trying to locate it. She might just as well work on the basis that he died intestate.

It might be worth checking bank statements/cheque books to see if you can find the payment

If you contact your local Law Society, they should be able to ask all their members firms. That's what we did when MIL died.