As society slowly opens up again – in a socially distant manner as a matter of course – we’re able to do more of what we want and need to do.
You can meet multiple friends outdoors (although the weather clearly has other ideas)…
Several school year groups in some schools have gone back, freeing up many thousands of parents to get back to work…
Even McDonalds have opened their DriveThru doors for those wanting a Big Mac fix…
But over the last week or so, I have been alerted to an area of life that appears still very much shut, in a way that’s causing a few problems for those looking to obtain Probate at the moment.
By and large, solicitors are still outwardly closed, and although many are operating ‘behind closed doors’, I’ve spoken to numerous clients who’ve been struggling to get Wills back from solicitors storing them.
This is proving to be a real stumbling block with the Probate process, and unfortunately, there’s little that can be done, besides continuing to badger the solicitor.
But on a wider level, there is something I would advise:
Unless you’ve got a very good reason to do so, don’t store your Will with a solicitor.
Issues with retrieving Wills aren’t unique to the coronavirus crisis – solicitors have always been keen to keep clients’ Wills under their control, and make it hard to get them back, for the simple reason that they feel they’ve got more chance of securing any legal work that results from the reason for the retrieval request.
My advice? Request your Will back from your solicitor now. It might take a while, but it’s better you ask now than forget and you or your loved ones suffer problems further down the line.
And if you do want an impartial place to store it, where you can get it back within 2 business days of your request (without jumping through lots of hoops), let me know, and I’ll explain about our storage offering.