Fire in the Hole - How does Your Family Retireve a Burnt Copy of a Will?

[Wingwalker]

Dear all, this is my first post.

I was lying in bed last night in this sweltering heat and couldn't switch my mind off when I had one of the most bizzarrest thoughts ever... As an individual, I'm a widower and live on my own. I have all my affairs in order - including a will. My family know where this is stored for when such a time it's required but... like all wills, they're made of paper!

What if (heaven forbid) there's a house fire. All the contents go up in smoke, including the will and it's burnt beyond recognition. How does my family know who to contact or where to go in order to obtain a copy for the probate process to start? In my own circumstances, I live in one county, but the will was prepared in a different county over 100 miles away. Right now, as I write this post I can't even remember the name off the top of my head who I used to create the will. So if I can't remember it - then how are they going to know who to contact?

As a continuation of this thought process, I then wondered what the legality aspect would be if I took digital photos of the pages, which are then automatically copied / transferred to my Microsoft Drive cloud account. I can delete the images off my phone, but the copies which are password protected are then still accessible in the cloud and can be viewed by my family as a backup option. I'm guessing there's probably a fault to my thinking - especially as I was sleep deprived at this stage due to the heat - but it did get me wondering...

Answers on a postcard if you are able to help please.

Kindest regards,

W.

[Frank1]

That is a bit depressing. Are you thinking you died in the fire at the same time the will was destroyed?
If not you could have another will made and a chance to update it if you so wish.
In case you perish in the fire, you could send a copy of the will to the executor(s) with a covering letter telling them the will, unlike yourself, is now stored in a fireproof box in your property
I am sure in this sad event a court would not believe you deliberately destroyed the will by setting fire to it and the fire becoming out of control.

[Frank1]

As the firemen sift through the charred remains one of them cries out
" Hey look what I've found. A metal box has survived the fire"
" What's in it, jewels, money?"
"No just his will"
"How do you know it was a he?"
"He was wearing pyjamas"
What in this heat?"
"Well he didn't know there was going to be a fire, did he"

[atticus]

The best way to ensure that your family knows something is to tell them.