At the end of December, the Government revealed an extensive archive of around 41 million wills has now been digitised for public access. This is a great leap forward in the world of wills and probate, as both clients and professionals can now access the database, without having to visit the probate registry in person.
The initiative was led by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service in response to public demand for official documents to be more accessible. This was achieved in partnership with Iron Mountain, a specialist firm that provides digital data storage solutions.
Dating back to 1858, the wills featured are those registered within England and Wales, allowing consumers and probate professionals to obtain valuable historical information online.
The first stage of the project involved around 260,000 wills from military persons being added to a digital database. So far, this archive alone has received over 2 million search queries to date, having only being launched in 2013.
This now means, not only can probate clients easily find out more about their ancestors, but also uncover lost inheritance and assets left to their family over the years, as well as find the grant of representation for a family member’s estate.
Amongst the data also lies the dying wishes of well-known figures, including Sir Winston Churchill, Beatrix Potter, and AA Milne.
Within his will, Charles Dickens goes into detail about how he wanted to have no monument or memorial erected in his name and says, "I rest my claims to the remembrance of my country upon my published works". The author also allegedly left £80,000 to his chosen beneficiaries, which would equate to over £7 million today.
George Orwell is claimed to have wanted his manuscripts and any personal documentation to be preserved. Economist John Maynard Keynes, however, asked for any unpublished manuscripts and other documents to be destroyed on his death.
Accessing a will costs £10 and will take approximately 10 days for the electronic copy to be received. For more information and to perform a search, simply visit https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate.
