Will Stor­age Op­tions

In this art­icle, we’ll ex­plore will stor­age.

We'll go through dif­fer­ent op­tions for stor­ing a will, in­clud­ing at home, with a so­li­cit­or, in a bank safety de­pos­it box, through the gov­ern­ment will stor­age ser­vice, and using di­git­al plat­forms.

Will Stor­age at Home

Stor­ing a will at home is a straight­for­ward option that many people choose thanks to its sim­pli­city and ease of access. When it comes to free will stor­age, this is often your only option!

You’ll always know where your will is and how to get to it without having to go through a formal pro­cess.

Pros

• Im­me­di­ate Ac­cess­ib­il­ity: You can access your will at any time without need­ing to go through a third party.
• No Cost: There are no fees in­volved in keep­ing your will at home.

Cons

• Risk of Damage or Loss: Stor­ing your will at home in­volves risks like fire, water damage, or theft. If the will is des­troyed or dam­aged there is a high risk that it will become void.
• Se­cur­ity Con­cerns: Without proper safe­guards, there's a risk of someone tam­per­ing with your will, or losing your will.

Read more: Find a Will in the UK

Stor­ing with a So­li­cit­or

Many opt to store their will with a so­li­cit­or for en­hanced se­cur­ity and peace of mind, but this gen­er­ally incurs a fee.

Pros

• Pro­fes­sion­al Hand­ling: So­li­cit­ors will make sure that your will is stored se­curely and its con­tents will remain con­fid­en­tial.
• Great­er Se­cur­ity: There’s a re­duced risk of tam­per­ing or loss since wills are kept in secure, access-con­trolled en­vir­on­ments.

Cons

• Po­ten­tial Costs: There may be a fee for stor­age if it’s not already in­cluded in the draft­ing ser­vice.
• Lim­ited Ac­cess­ib­il­ity: Ac­cess­ing your will can be re­stric­ted to the so­li­cit­or’s office hours.
• Lim­ited Safety from Phys­ic­al Damage: It’s un­likely that your will would be any safer from things like fire damage at a so­li­cit­or’s office than at home.

Will Stor­age at Bank Safety De­pos­it Boxes

Using a bank safety de­pos­it box offers one of the highest levels of se­cur­ity for stor­ing im­port­ant doc­u­ments like wills.

Pros

• High Se­cur­ity: Banks offer secure en­vir­on­ments with con­trolled access, of­fer­ing the highest pro­tec­tion against phys­ic­al damage and tam­per­ing.

Cons

• Rental Costs: Rent­ing a safety de­pos­it box incurs an on­go­ing cost that may be dis­pro­por­tion­ate to what you need - unless you have a large estate or highly con­ten­tious will that at­tracts great­er risks than usual.
• Ac­cess­ib­il­ity Issues: Access can be com­plic­ated in the event of your death, po­ten­tially delay­ing the ex­ecut­or’s pro­cess.

Gov­ern­ment Will Stor­age

Stor­ing your will with the gov­ern­ment’s Courts and Tribunals Ser­vice provides a secure and of­fi­cial way to keep your will safe.

Pros

• Se­cur­ity: With gov­ern­ment will stor­age, your will is stored se­curely, pro­tec­ted from loss, damage, or un­au­thor­ised access.
• Ac­cess­ible: You or your de­pend­ents can access the will when needed, making it easy to re­trieve when it is re­quired.
• Cost-Ef­fect­ive: A one-time fee of £20 covers stor­age, making it an af­ford­able option.

Cons

• Postal Risks: Send­ing your will by post in­tro­duces risks of loss or damage during trans­it.
• Pro­cess Com­plex­ity: The pro­cess in­volves sev­er­al steps, in­clud­ing mail­ing and filling out spe­cif­ic forms, re­quir­ing more effort than the sim­pler al­tern­at­ives.
• Hassle with Changes: If you want to change your will, you’ll have to notify the gov­ern­ment and go through the pro­cess again to send your new will.

Will Stor­age Ser­vices

Spe­cial­ised will stor­age ser­vices provide ded­ic­ated op­tions for those look­ing for pro­fes­sion­al man­age­ment of their wills.

Pros

• Spe­cial­ised Fea­tures: Many ser­vices offer no­ti­fic­a­tions, di­git­al copies, and reg­u­lar update op­tions, en­han­cing the man­age­ment and se­cur­ity of your will.
• Pro­fes­sion­al Man­age­ment: These ser­vices spe­cial­ise in will stor­age, of­fer­ing expert hand­ling and con­fid­en­ti­al­ity.

Cons

• Costs: There is typ­ic­ally a fee for these ser­vices, which can vary de­pend­ing on the level of ser­vice provided.
• Vary­ing Se­cur­ity Levels: Not all ser­vices offer the same level of se­cur­ity, so it’s im­port­ant to care­fully weigh up the of­fer­ing of each ser­vice you con­sider.

Di­git­al Stor­age Op­tions

Di­git­al stor­age solu­tions offer modern con­veni­ence by al­low­ing wills to be stored and man­aged online.

Pros

• Quick Access: Di­git­al stor­age can provide im­me­di­ate access to the will, at any time.
• Easy Up­dates and Backups: Di­git­al plat­forms make it easy to update your will and store backups, en­sur­ing your latest wishes are always re­cor­ded and up-to-date. 
• Pro­fes­sion­al Man­age­ment: These ser­vices usu­ally spe­cial­ise in stor­ing wills di­git­ally, of­fer­ing expert hand­ling and con­fid­en­ti­al­ity.
• Cost-Ef­fect­ive: Gen­er­ally this is an af­ford­able option for stor­ing your will se­curely.

Cons

• Tech­no­logy De­pend­ence: This option relies heav­ily on di­git­al sys­tems, which might be a bar­ri­er for those less com­fort­able with tech­no­logy.
• Sig­na­tures: The latest ver­sion of your will needs to be phys­ic­ally signed before it can leg­ally be used.

Stor­ing a Last will – Find the Best Place to Store Your Will

Here's a table il­lus­trat­ing vari­ous op­tions for stor­ing a Last Will in the UK, along with their as­so­ci­ated costs:

For the Aatos Di­git­al Stor­age option, the cost in­cludes cre­at­ing the Last Will, home de­liv­ery, and legal help, of­fer­ing a com­pre­hens­ive pack­age for in­di­vidu­als look­ing for a one-stop solu­tion.

Read more: How to get a copy of a will in the UK?

Di­git­al Copy of Your Will Always at Hand

With Aatos, for just 99 you gain access to di­git­al stor­age and other be­ne­fits.

This in­cludes the cre­ation of all es­sen­tial legal doc­u­ments, home de­liv­ery of these doc­u­ments, un­lim­ited re­vi­sions and up­dates, and on­go­ing legal sup­port whenev­er you need it.

Be pre­pared, be care­free!

Safely Stor­ing a Will

Pick­ing the best place to store your will means think­ing about what you need per­son­ally, how secure it has to be, and how easy it is for the right people to get to it when needed.

Di­git­al Stor­age Ser­vices like Aatos are great be­cause they don't just keep your will safe - they also make it easy to update and back up. Plus, they work well with other tools you might use for plan­ning your estate.

Wheth­er you go with a clas­sic method or a modern di­git­al option, making sure your will is both safe and easy to access is a key part of good estate plan­ning.

Read more

• Es­sen­tial Guide to Being a Test­at­or
• What You Should Never Put in Your Will?
• Who Can Wit­ness a Will?
• How to Find Out If Someone Has Died?
• Writ­ing a Will – Tips