Secure Storage and Insurance

Last verified: 6 November 2025 (England & Wales)

Your Will only works if the signed original can be found. Copies or scans will not do. Fire, flood, a house move, or a “tidy” by a well-meaning relative can erase years of planning in a moment.

🌿 Fact: A Law Society survey found 72% of UK adults would not know where to find their parents’ Will.

If executors cannot locate the original when it is needed, your plan may fail, and intestacy may take effect.

Professional storage is not an add-on. It is the simplest way to keep the original safe, insured, and easily accessible when needed.

Quick-read summary
Professional storage keeps the original safe, insured, and easily accessible. It gives executors authorised access, creates an audit trail, and registers the document on a national search system. Home storage carries five common risks: damage, loss, tampering, outdated copies, and the inability to locate stored items.

Why home storage fails
Even careful clients face five unavoidable risks:
• Fire or flood damage.
• Accidental loss or misfiling.
• Tampering or theft.
• Old copies circulating after an update.
• Executors not knowing where to look.

If the original Will cannot be found when needed, the law may presume that it was destroyed. The presumption applies where the Will was last known to be in your possession and cannot be found. The burden then shifts to your estate to disprove revocation. The result can be intestacy.

Cases

The “helpful” cleaner
Mr Adams kept his Will in a desk drawer. After his death, it vanished. An older Will took effect, benefiting the relative who had “helped tidy” the house in the month before his death.

The forged heir
A BBC report in 2023 highlighted a rise in Will fraud. One fraudster tried to use a fake £2 million Will. A central storage record would have stopped it at once.

The silver “dining”
A client retrieved a Will that had been stored at a solicitor's archive. Silverfish had eaten the corners. The damage created a presumption of intentional revocation. The Will would have possibly failed probate.

The solicitor’s basement
An insolvency practitioner was appointed to clear the assets of a closed firm. Thousands of Wills and LPAs sat in a damp basement. Years later, families discovered the originals were unusable or missing. Litigation costs ran high. Probate delays reached two years. It began as “free storage.”

The bog-standard storage solution
A non-SWW member, Will Writer, kept decades of Wills in cardboard boxes in his downstairs toilet. No log. No release process. After illness and early dementia, his spouse faced boxes she could not move and no records to help her understand what she had. The Society of Will Writers stepped in to recover papers and notify families. This is “home storage.” Vulnerable clients. Vulnerable families. Zero safeguards.

Pass the parcel
My own grandmother’s Will vanished after several law-firm handovers. Retirements. mergers, acquisitions and lost records. When an original cannot be found, the law treats the Will as if it may not exist at all.

The lost and found
A closing branch revealed archive boxes in a storeroom. Inside were Wills that never reached the central archive. They survived by luck alone. 

These are daily warnings. The weak point is the location and control of the original.

Professional storage — what it solves
A professional archive protects the document for its lifetime and gives executors controlled access. At Fern Wills & LPAs, we partner with The National Will Safe, a UK-wide facility with insured archival storage.
✅ Fire- and flood-resistant premises.
✅ Digital scan and secure off-site backup.
✅ £2 million insurance against loss or damage.
✅ Executor identity cards and a unique storage code.
✅ Retrieval on proof of death certificate and ID.
✅ Automatic registration with The National Will Register.
✅ Free, fast access for additions or withdrawals.
✅ Clear release procedures and a complete audit trail.

Documents suitable for storage

Technical notes — if a Will is lost
Executors may apply to prove a copy under Rule 54 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. Success usually depends on clear evidence of due execution and a robust paper trail showing the Will existed after execution and was never revoked. The statement must outline the search steps taken, specify who benefits if the copy is proven or rejected, and explain why the court should accept the copy. Courts often reject these applications. When they succeed, it can take years and cost thousands in legal fees.

Reference: Singh v Vozniak (2016). A Will presumed destroyed was accepted only after a four-year dispute and extensive witness evidence.

At-a-glance: home vs professional storage

Home storage — risks
• Vulnerable to fire, flood, loss, or tampering.
• Executors may not know where it is.
• No insurance or registration.
• Access uncontrolled and unrecorded.Professional storage — our solution
• Fire- and flood-resistant archive.
• Registered on a national database so that any firm can locate the Will.
• Free retrieval or return at any time.
• Authorised access only with full audit trail.
• Insured up to £2 million against loss or damage.
• Executor ID cards and clear retrieval instructions.

Compelling finish
Your Will matters once. By then, it cannot be replaced. Professional storage protects your intentions, your executors, and your family’s future.

🌿 Keep your wishes safe, insured, and traceable nationwide. 

With Fern Wills & LPAs and The National Will Safe, your Will can be found and used when it counts.