The online National Will Register is a repository where wills online can be registered. The National Will Register does not hold the actual physical document, and this is actually a very good things too. It holds the information about the physical location of wills online registered there. This allows those conducting a search to know where to go to find the missing will.

The National Will Register has been an idea that has bided its time in becoming a reality. The idea of having registered wills online from all over the country has been well established for some time, but the reality had to wait for the necessary funding, legislation and technology to catch up. Now wills online registered with the National Will Register is not only a reality, but fast becoming an essential necessity for anyone who has written a will.

Having wills online registered at the National Will Register become an every day occurrence for all was two years in development. It cost some £1.5 million to provide the legal establishment as well as the public with a place where wills online could be searched for by STEP members (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), notaries, solicitors and ILEX members (Institute of Legal Executives).

Registering wills online can be done quickly and easily at the National Will Register. It’s free of charge to do and it only takes a few minutes at most. The UK has a total of 12.8 million wills Online there are not that many yet, but the National Will Register has the capacity and the capability to process them all.

A will is a public document. In time the millions of new wills online will become historical documents and could be used for research purposes for those interested in how things used to be. This has already happened. A family history group has placed some 28,000 wills online from Surrey. These date back to the 15th century with the more recent ones dating to the middle of the 19th century. These wills online are truly a treasure trove of trivial marvels; some of the items left in the wills paint a fascinating picture of life as it used to be.

The main purpose of registering wills online is as a kind of insurance policy against the possible loss of the actual will. The real will may not really be lost, but following your death it may be the case that no one can find it. This is why the National Will Register should be the first place to look for wills online. If all wills online were registered at the National Will Register, the threat of the lost will would simple fade away.

The National Will Register is therefore a place where wills online are held in a database. The real document can be in a solicitor’s office or under a mattress – it doesn’t matter, for by registering wills online everyone who does so is making sure that its whereabouts will always be known when it is needed most.