Will registration

[retro pedro]

Please can anybody confirm or explain how it works once a Will as been made.
Does the Will get recorded and stored on a digital government official site register?
If that's the case, can the general public pay a fee and access the records for viewing and amending through the correct channels?
I did find online a page with reference to National Wills Register with search fees payable.
Many thanks for any advice.

[atticus]

There is no official register. There are a number of voluntary schemes such as the one you have mentioned.

[PallasAthena]

A Will is a private document that only becomes public after death and then only if Probate is granted.

After the grant of Probate anyone can read it. Before the testator dies no-one is entitled to read it except with the testator's permission. Nor does the testator have to register with anyone that they have made a Will.

If they choose to register it voluntarily (so that their Executor(s) can more easily find it) they can do so. National Will Register is one company who do Will storage and search, for a fee. Despite their official-sounding name they are not a government organisation, just a private company touting for business. Other Will storage companies are available.

You don't say why you are asking but to be clear even if the Will is registered with a Will storage company they will not release it to anyone except the testator, or (if the testator has died) to people such as the Executors who have a legal right to obtain it.

[retro pedro]

A Will is a private document that only becomes public after death and then only if Probate is granted.

After the grant of Probate anyone can read it. Before the testator dies no-one is entitled to read it except with the testator's permission. Nor does the testator have to register with anyone that they have made a Will.

If they choose to register it voluntarily (so that their Executor(s) can more easily find it) they can do so. National Will Register is one company who do Will storage and search, for a fee. Despite their official-sounding name they are not a government organisation, just a private company touting for business. Other Will storage companies are available.

You don't say why you are asking but to be clear even if the Will is registered with a Will storage company they will not release it to anyone except the testator, or (if the testator has died) to people such as the Executors who have a legal right to obtain it.

Along with Atticus, many thanks for reply PallasAthena. Your precise and helpful replies have given me the understanding that I initially sort.
The reason why I sort guidance is that my elderly in laws (both 93) are coming to the point where end of life care needs to be considered. Original mirror Wills were made in 2013 and now they are both saying that the wish to split their estates equally between their daughter (my wife) and two grand-daughters (my children). Initially the Wills were made out that at first, that their individual estates should go to each other, if surviving. If non surviving then to their daughter and grand-children. If I'm getting this correct, cocidils can be made out to correct or act as amendments to the original Wills. If cocidils are completed correctly with witnessed signatures etc., the cocidils can be attached to the original Wills and this will suffice as the correct procedure to address the Will amendments.
I've seen reference to a Red Cross cocidil template that can be downloaded for this purpose.

[retro pedro]

Along with Atticus, many thanks for reply PallasAthena. Your precise and helpful replies have given me the understanding that I initially sort.
The reason why I sort guidance is that my elderly in laws (both 93) are coming to the point where end of life care needs to be considered. Original mirror Wills were made in 2013 and now they are both saying that the wish to split their estates equally between their daughter (my wife) and two grand-daughters (my children). Initially the Wills were made out that at first, that their individual estates should go to each other, if surviving. If non surviving then to their daughter and grand-children. If I'm getting this correct, codicils can be made out to correct or act as amendments to the original Wills. If codicils are completed correctly with witnessed signatures etc., the codicils can be attached to the original Wills and this will suffice as the correct procedure to address the Will amendments.
I've seen reference to a Red Cross codicil template that can be downloaded for this purpose.

[Pezza54]

Do your in-laws own property?
If they do, is it owned as joint tenants or tenants in common?
This sounds like major changes to the wills, making the drafting of new wills preferable to codicils.

[retro pedro]

Do your in-laws own property?
If they do, is it owned as joint tenants or tenants in common?
This sounds like major changes to the wills, making the drafting of new wills preferable to codicils.

Many thanks for your response Pezza54.
Yes they do own their property as joint tenants. The single property is of modest value, I would estimate £300,000 at todays market value. They also have modest savings which will leave the individual estates well below the IHT threshold, as things stand today. Do you think this will still warrant making new Wills? The problem is that my 93 year old farther-in-law is in a care home and currently as no mobility. Although she is still lives at their property, my 93 year old mother-in-law is house bound due to lack of mobility. Nett result is that we won't be able to get them to a solicitors or Will making providers offices. Nor will we be able to do a combined home visit due to both currently living at different addresses.
My wife and daughter do have Power of Attorney for both Finance and Health for the pair of them, if of significance.

[Pezza54]

Are you saying that ownership of the property as joint tenants needs to be severed and ownership changed to tenants in common?

Does your wife have any brothers or sisters, and if any have died did they have children?