English Probate Procedure c.1925

[George Shaw]

Back in the mid 1920's and in seeking probate, would a Will have to be deposited in perpetuity with the then Probate Service or would the Will just be verified and returned to the executors. If multiple copies of the Will were necessary, would each copy have to be written out by hand and, presumably, marked as a certified copy. Finally, have any of you ever sought a copy of a Will only to discover that the Probate Service had mislaid the original, or worse still, had taken payment for the copy Will to be supplied and then neither supplied said copy and/or decided not to respond to any enquiries?

[lawboy65]

Unfortunately in my experience it is becoming all too common for this to happen. I have complained to the legal ombudsman for redress but the bar is extremely high if you are going to get a result. This maybe useful: www.legalombudsman.org.uk/publications/will-writing/index.htmll

[George Shaw]

Thanks for the response.

[George Shaw]

I'd welcome examples of the length of delays that Forum members are experiencing in receiving copies of Wills from the Probate Service. I ordered a scan of a 1925 Will from https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate on 3 August 2019 and there's still no sight of it over five weeks later.