storage and review
The original Will is your only Will and must be kept safe
The original signed versions of legal documents, such as Wills and Powers of Attorney are the only legally binding versions. Scans, photocopies and computer records are not legally valid because they don’t have your original signature on them.
Unless they are needed, one place you should not keep an original document is at home. If you have a fire, flood or burglary, you risk losing them. Moreover, if your Will is damaged in any way, then the courts could declare it invalid.
You should keep your Will in a safe place; however that place must be easily accessible when the document is needed!
For a small annual fee, 40RTY provides a complete storage solution that solves all of the problems of protecting important legal documents.
Safety and Insuarance
40RTY, in association with National Will Safe, stores all your documents in a waterproof wallet in a specialist document archive facility. The serive is fully insured against loss or damage and if anything happens to your documents, they will be recreated and replaced for you free of charge. If your documents are lost or damaged at the time they are needed, or the loss or damage only comes to light at the time of need, the insurance covers up to £2M to compensate anyone who loses out or incurs costs as a result of there being no legally binding document in existence.
We’ll provide you with plastic identity cards for you and your Executors. They display your name, a unique storage reference number and our contact details.
You can access your documents at any time (free of charge) using an insured delivery service. When your executors need to access your Will, all they need to do is provide a death certificate and proof of their identity. We will send your Will to them free of charge, using a secure, next day delivery service.
The location of your documents will be registered free of charge on the National Wills Register.
The Certainty National Will Register
Most people claim to make a Will during their lifetime, however only 30% of estates are administered by a legally valid Will. Somewhere in between, a lot of Wills that are written go missing or are not found.
As well as storing your Will safely, registering your Will is an essential part of the Will making process and you should ensure you do so with a long-standing register with impeccable credentials. Certainty is the longest-established and by far the largest register in the UK.
The Certainty National Will Register is chosen, endorsed and used by the public, legal profession, law firms, public indemnity insurers, government agencies, charities and other associated sectors and organisations to register and search for Wills.