Storage & Security
The original versions of your Will, are the only legally binding versions. Scans, photocopies and computer records are not legally valid because they don’t have your original signature. The original Will is your only Will and must be kept safely. An estimated 72% of UK adults stated to the Law Society that they would not know where to find their parents Will. Challenges to Wills are on the increase, and not having the original leads to disputes, challenges and extra costs.
🌿Never store an original Will at home. If you have a fire, flood or burglary, you risk losing your Will. If your Will is damaged, then the courts could declare the Will invalid.
🌿You must keep your Will safe; however, that place must be easily accessible when the document is needed!
🌿There are various ways to store your Will. Some solicitors and Will writers may store it for you at their offices. There are some advantages and many disadvantages of this.
For high-value items, such as gold and jewellery, we offer a state-of-the-art 24-hour guarded vault box. (Think Mission Impossible!) For very high-value storage, we offer a security escort door-to-door service. We meet you at a place of your choosing, and a professionally trained Security Officer will escort you to ensure you and your items are safe and that you are not followed.
The Fern Wills & LPAs Solution
We always strongly recommend using The National Will Safe Document Storage facility. It is a unique national, central storage facility for Wills that overcomes the problems of safely caring for important legal documents, providing you with peace of mind and a sense of security.
🌿Your Will and any other relevant legal documents, such as Powers of Attorney, are kept in a waterproof wallet in a specialist document archive facility.
🌿The documents are also stored digitally; therefore, if anything happens to your documents, they will be recreated and replaced for you, free of charge.
🌿While your documents are with National Will Safe, they are fully insured against loss or damage. In the extremely unlikely event your documents are lost or damaged when they are needed, they are insured for up to £2 million to compensate anyone who loses out or incurs costs due to there being no legally binding document in existence.
🌿National Will Safe provides plastic identity cards for you and your Executors. They display your name, a unique storage reference number and our contact details. Fern Wills & Trusts offer to contact all your executors to explain their duties and answer their questions.
🌿You can access your documents at any time – free of charge. The documents can be returned to Fern Wills & Trusts or directly to you using an insured delivery service, making the process convenient and comfortable for you. When finished with them, they can be returned to the Will Safe.
🌿When your Executors need to access your Will, they need only provide National Will Safe with a death certificate and proof of their identity. They will then send your Will to them free of charge using a secure, next-day delivery service.
🌿When you store your Will with National Will Safe, it is also registered with the National Will Register. This means that your Will is safe and secure and can also be found when you have passed on if a Certainty Will Search is undertaken.
Examples of documents to store:
- Last Will & Testament
- Foreign Wills
- Codicil
- LPA/EPA*
- Advance Directive
- Tenancy Severance
- Property Deed
- Land registry
- Declaration of Trust Exclusion
- Trust Documents
- Memo/Letter/Statement/expression of Wishes
- Family Provision Claimant Form
- Insurance Details/Policy
- Business Articles of Association
- Letters to Children/Trustees/Executors
- Minutes of Meeting
- Professional Qualifications
- Old love letters that you don't want to be lost (or found!)
- Sealed Envelopes
- Other Documents
