An Executor or Administrator has the legal authority, responsibility and duty to distribute the deceased’s estate correctly and could be held financially responsible for any mistakes made.
Issues can arise if a more up-to-date version of the Will being used to distribute the estate comes forward after distribution. Or it was presumed that the deceased did not make a Will only for one to come to light after distribution.
To help avoid issues arising for an Executor or Administrator it is vitally important when distributing an estate that the most up-to-date version is being used. In the case where a Will is not known about or cannot be found, it is advisable to have taken steps to confirm that a Will does not exist.
Therefore before an estate is distributed, the Law Society recommend a Certainty Will Search provided by The National Will Register, to search for both registered Wills and Wills that have not been registered.
As a legally endorsed and recognised best practice, Certainty Will Search offers great protection against an unknown or later Will coming to light after the estate has been distributed. Following a Certainty Will Search an Executor or Administrator should retain the Will Search report received as it validates reasonable steps were taken to search for an unknown Will or most up-to-date version of the Will before proceeding with distribution.
To conduct your Certainty Will Search visit www.certainty.org.uk/equiniti