Is your will actually insured where it's stored?

Your will is one of the most important documents you will ever sign. It decides who looks after your children, who inherits your home, and how the people you love are provided for. Most people, quite reasonably, hand the original to their solicitor or will writer for safekeeping and never think about it again.

But here is a question almost no one asks: if the place storing your will had a fire or a flood, or the firm simply closed its doors, what would actually happen to it, and would anyone be covered? Often the honest answer is that nobody has checked whether the documents themselves are insured.

Why a lost will is worse than a lost document

Most documents can be reprinted. An original will cannot, and the law treats its loss very seriously.

If your original will cannot be found after you die, and it was last known to be in your own keeping, the law may apply what is called the "presumption of revocation": it can be presumed that you deliberately destroyed it to cancel it. Even where a will was lost by someone else, a photocopy is not automatically accepted in its place. Your executors would have to apply to the probate registry, with evidence of the will's contents and of why the original is missing, which is slow, costly and not guaranteed.

If that fails, your estate can be dealt with as though your will never existed, passing under an earlier will or under the intestacy rules, which may send your money and possessions to people you never intended. So a lost original will isn't an inconvenience. It can quietly undo your entire plan.

The insurance gap

Whoever holds your will, a solicitor, a will writer or a storage company, becomes what the law calls a "bailee." That means they owe a duty to take reasonable care of it. That sounds reassuring, and it matters, but a duty of care is not the same thing as compensation. If the worst happens and there is no insurance sitting behind that duty, "reasonable care" may be cold comfort to your family.

Here is where it gets uncomfortable. Standard business, property and goods-in-transit insurance policies often exclude "documents, deeds and money" unless those items have been specifically added to the policy. And even where documents are covered, the payout may be limited to the cost of the paper itself, not the consequences of losing something irreplaceable. Some firms store clients' wills for free as a goodwill gesture and may never have arranged specific cover for them, because clients so rarely ask.

None of this means your will is at risk today. It means it is a fair question, and one worth asking before you need the answer.

What to ask whoever holds your will

You are entitled to ask, and a good custodian will answer clearly:

• Where exactly is my will stored, and is that facility genuinely secure, fire-protected and flood-protected?
• Is my will specifically insured as a document, not just lumped under general "contents" cover?
• In practical terms, what happens if it is lost, damaged or destroyed?
• Is there a digital copy, and can my executors reach the original quickly at the moment they actually need it?
• What happens to my will if your firm retires, closes or is sold? In other words, is there a continuity plan?

If the answers are vague, that tells you something useful. Your will deserves better than a filing cabinet and a hope that nothing goes wrong.

How we do it differently

National Document Register exists to close exactly this gap. Every document we hold is kept in a secure, fire-protected facility, scanned on arrival so there is always a record of what we received, and logged with a documented chain of custody from the moment it reaches us. You and your chosen executors can ask for a scanned copy at any time, and the original is released, free, to your executors when it is genuinely needed. And because a will has to outlast the people and firms around it, every document is backed by our continuity guarantee, so it stays safe whatever happens to the firm that wrote it.

Your will is meant to bring your family certainty at the hardest possible time. Storing it properly is a small step that protects everything else you have put in place. If you would like to, you can see our pricing or tell us what you would like to store, and we will be in touch to arrange everything.

Frequently asked questions

Isn't my solicitor legally responsible if they lose my will? They owe a duty to take reasonable care of it, but that is not the same as a guarantee that your family would be compensated for the loss. Compensation depends on whether there is suitable insurance behind that duty, which is exactly the thing worth checking.

If the original is lost, won't a copy do? Not automatically. Where the original was last in your own keeping, a missing will can be presumed to have been destroyed by you on purpose. Even where someone else lost it, a copy has to be proved with evidence before it can be used, which is uncertain, costly and slow. The original is what protects your wishes.

Does my home or contents insurance cover my will? Often not. Many standard policies exclude or strictly limit cover for documents and deeds, and where they do cover them, they may pay only the replacement cost of the paper, not the real consequences of losing an irreplaceable original. Check your own policy wording.

This article is general information about will storage and is not legal or insurance advice. For advice about your own circumstances, speak to a suitably qualified professional.