In a story which will send shivers down the spine of any solicitor, Lloyds Bank has recently discovered a collection of 9,000 old Wills which had somehow been forgotten about in its ironically titled ‘safe custody service’. The bank is now trying to reunite them with the relevant families. In many cases, the estates were wound up years ago, and large sums of money will have been transferred to the wrong beneficiaries. This will now have to be sorted out retrospectively.
The bank has apologised profusely and says that those involved will be fully compensated, and that money and assets will not be clawed back from people who received them in error. Lloyds estimates that in 90% of cases, fortunately the Wills had been superseded by a newer Will, whilst in others a copy of the Will was held elsewhere, and still others were mistakenly dealt with as intestacies.
At Chiltern Wills, as members of the Society of Will Writers, we can register the location of your Will with the National Will Register for free (this service usually costs £30 per Will). The Will can then be stored in a safe place of your choice. This should ensure that when the time comes, your executors can quickly and easily locate your Will.
