Pictured: Emma Harrison
Wills are going missing as the present economic climate claims
law firms and will writing companies as its victims.
As the companies collapse documents surrounding wills, Powers of
Attorney as well as other papers kept for security reasons, are
disappearing.
Emma Harrison, head of wills and probate at Solihull-based HCB
Solicitors, is advising people who have made wills to check that
the firm holding them still exists and that all contact details are
up to date and that all executors or attorneys under a Lasting
Power of Attorney are aware as to where they are stored.
Emma said: "It is vitally important that people know the
whereabouts of their wills and Powers of Attorney. The problems
surrounding probate proceedings when a will is lost are huge.
"Firms advise clients to keep their documents in a safe place
preferably stored with the solicitor or with the will-writer", said
Emma who oversees wills and probate at HCB's six offices throughout
the West Midlands.
"But it's a fact of economic life that many law firms and
will-writing companies have been forced to close or merge and in
the process the wills and other documents have gone missing.
"For law firms regulated by the Law Society this is not
generally a problem as the document stores will be transferred to
another firm even though it may not be a local one.
"Unfortunately, due to out of date details on the documents it
is not always possible to notify the clients of the change in the
whereabouts of their documents. For instance the wills and deeds
being held by a law firm in Redditch which closed down this year
were transferred to a company in Birmingham.
"With will writers who are unregulated it often means the
documents are totally lost".
Emma's advice is for people to tell those storing their wills
and deeds of any changes in their contact details and to advise
those charged with processing the documents after their deaths,
where they are stored.
"At HCB Solicitors we offer a service of retrieval. We help
clients trace their documents through the Law Society and re-home
them for them and at the same time offer a free review to ensure
the will still meets their needs and circumstances".