Andrew East & Kevin Martin speak with Certainty Pt 3
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Certainty regularly meet senior legal professionals to discuss the ongoing developments of the register . Kevin Martin, Chairman of Certainty and Andrew East, Chairman STEP UK Probate & Estates Committee recently expressed the following views…
3. Q. Do you think being able to offer a registration gives a fresh impetus or new focus - does it remove the element of ‘this is a distress purchase’ to the idea that I should register my will, and so completes the cycle and removes that whole mentality of ‘I don’t want to address that issue in my life, because it means the end’.
A: (Kevin) I think we’ve found in countries where there is a will register that it does help the process, that there are fewer instances of people not being able to trace wills which they believe are in existence. So I believe that we can follow that precedent advantageously, and I think we go back to the previous question – to some extent it’s about marketing. If it is marketed properly -this is another reason why you the client should make the will- because its not going to be made, left with us and then forgotten about. Solicitors don’t forget where wills are, they have very good recording and storage facilities, but sometimes the people who have made wills forget and lose track of where things are. If the register is there then it is another reason for people to make a will, as they will know that not only does it do what they want it to do but it will definitely be traceable when they die and reduce the scope for conflict which is so important.
(Andrew) The advantages of having a will register are certainty and being able to discover its whereabouts afterwards. Your research has highlighted how many people don’t know where their parents’ wills are and that I think is a strong argument in favour of the will register.
