Will storage

in my example, the cats' home, or anyone not in close contact with the person, who is beneficiary, does not know they are the beneficiary.
they may have never heard of the testator.
in which case they will not know when if they die.
and a next of kin person has a motive to destroy any will they find which names anyone else.

Mine's at home in a fireproof box, and my daughter (the only beneficiary) has a copy.

Mine is stored with a solicitor along with my Power of Attorney and I pay £24 a year but this includes no fee for any changes I wish to make. I've had the will for 12 years and changed it twice. I do have a copy at home.

Mines in a metal filing cabinet and copy each to son and daughter

Ours are now at home as our Solicitor wanted to charge us a small fortune each to store it, now that they have moved in swanky new offices.
Am now trawling the web sites looking for a decent size fireproof/ waterproof box.
Both DDs know where they are though.

What would be the consequences of loosing the original?

No personal experience stoker, this Gov.uk document seems to deal with it though.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-a-will-is-lost-to-support-a-probate-application

Good luck with the decision making, as I said before in your situation I’d not be paying for storage but please make sure your Executors have a copy and also know where the original is.

You can store your will with the Government probate service for a one off fee of £20.
You get a certificate for your executors to produce.

Don’t put it into a Banks Safety Deposit box.

Your family won’t be able to access it without Probate and the proof of Probate will be in the Safety Deposit box.

That’s from a Which report.

Pittcity that looks a good option I will call my local office and see how to arrange it.

My advice is to only to keep a copy of the executed will at home, endorsed with the details of where the original is lodged with the storage reference number if available. Fire proof boxes can be stolen (I.e a thief might think there was valuables inside) and ordinary metal filing cabinets are not fire/flood proof. If the original will cannot be found then the deceased is likely to deemed as having died intestate, i.e without a will. The rules of intestacy dictate how the estate is to be divided up which may not be as the deceased wished and could even result in family disputes.

Thanks again, all.
As I hoped - good advice and personal experience.
I appreciate it.

Pittcity

You can store your will with the Government probate service for a one off fee of £20.
You get a certificate for your executors to produce.

i think this should be the norm.
every will to be stored there, originals.
copies with whoever wished.
then if a later will turns up, or someone claims as next of kin, that would be invalid if original will is found in official storage.
i know one can do this at the moment, and a search is made there, but it's not compulsory.
someone may make their will and leave it in their desk.
greedy cousin turns up , burns will, claims estate.

I have a copy at home but the original is stored securely and it was a very reasonable one-off fee. My children have the letter telling them the location.