Beneficiary of will but no contact

[Pollysam6]

Hi. Not sure how to tackle this one. An old friend of mine told me he had put me in his will years ago. The only family he had were cousins and one of them was the executor. He passed away in February this year but I'm not sure if the executor is still alive. I do not know any of his family members as he lived at the other side of the country. How will i know if his will, will be dealt with correctly or if it's been dealt with at all? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[PallasAthena]

If you have no way of contacting any of his family there's not much you can do other than checking the gov.uk find a will site. Once probate is granted the Will is listed there and you can download a copy. It will tell you who has been granted probate. You can then contact them if you are still a beneficiary.

Probate is taking months nowadays so if your friend only died in February it could easily be early autumn before Probate is granted, depending how large and complex the estate is. The Will does not become publicly available until Probate is granted.

One other thing you could try in the meantime, if you know whereabouts he died, is search local newspapers to see if the family put in a funeral notice.