What to do if you cannot find the will

If you cannot find the will, start by searching the person's home and papers thoroughly, then contact anyone who may be holding the original: any solicitor or will writer who acted for them, their bank, the National Will Register, and the Probate Service, which stores wills for safekeeping. If an original is never found, the estate is usually dealt with either under the rules of intestacy, or, where a valid copy or firm evidence of a will exists, by applying to the Probate Registry for permission to prove that copy.

A misplaced will is common and often solved within a few phone calls, because most professionally drafted wills are stored away from the home. This guide sets out where wills are usually kept, how to search official records, and what the law of England and Wales says when only a copy, or nothing at all, comes to light. Figures are current as at August 2026 and are subject to change.

First steps when a will is missing

Search, then ask, then check the official records, before treating the estate as though there is no will. Many people leave a signed original with the professional who prepared it and keep only a copy at home, so the absence of a will in the house does not mean one was never made.

• Search thoroughly. Look through files, drawers, a home safe, and with other important papers such as the property deeds, insurance documents and bank statements.
• Look for clues, not just the will. A letter, an invoice from a solicitor or will writer, or a storage certificate can point to where the original is held.
• Ask the people closest to the person. A spouse, adult children, a named executor or a close friend may know who drafted or holds the will.
• Contact the professionals. Ring any solicitor, will writer or bank the person used, and ask whether they hold an original will or a deposit certificate.
• Search the registers. Use the National Will Register and, where a death has already led to a grant, the Probate Service records described below.

Where wills are commonly kept

Working through the usual storage places in turn is the quickest way to locate an original.

An original will can be deposited with the Probate Service for a one-off charge of £24, then withdrawn by the person who lodged it, or their dependants after death, at any time (gov.uk, storing a will with the Probate Service, as at August 2026, subject to change). If you think the person used this service, the probate helpline can tell you whether one is on deposit.

What if only a copy of the will can be found?

A copy can sometimes be used, but it is not automatic. Where a will was last known to be in the person's own keeping and the original cannot be found after death, the court applies a rebuttable presumption that the person destroyed it intending to revoke it, so that presumption has to be answered with evidence.

In practice this usually means applying to the Probate Registry to admit a copy or reconstruction, supported by evidence such as a witness statement explaining why the original is missing, when it was last seen, and that the person did not intend to revoke it. The outcome depends on the facts, and applications of this kind are often handled with professional help. This is general information about how the process works, not advice on a particular estate.

What happens if no will can be found at all?

If no valid will comes to light, the estate is treated as intestate and passes under the statutory intestacy rules rather than by anyone's choice. Those rules set a fixed order of who inherits, based on marriage, civil partnership and blood relationships, and unmarried partners do not inherit under them (gov.uk, intestacy rules, as at August 2026, subject to change). A close relative usually applies for letters of administration instead of a grant of probate, then distributes the estate according to those rules.

Because a lost will can change who inherits, complete the searches above before assuming intestacy, and keep a record of each one, because a will that turns up after an estate has been dealt with can complicate matters. Our overview of what probate is explains how grants of probate and letters of administration differ.

Preventing a missing will in future

The simplest protection is to store the original somewhere secure and tell the executors where it is. A will kept only in a drawer at home is the type most often lost, damaged or exposed to the revocation presumption above. Storing the original with the professional who drafted it, a bank, or the Probate Service, and registering it on the National Will Register, all make a will easier to find. Reviewing storage is a normal part of wider estate planning.