What to do if you can't find a will

When someone dies, if it's not immediately clear that there was a will, and you are the deceased's next of kin, you should start looking for one.

The easiest place to start is in any filing cabinet or other storage the deceased may have at their home or office where they may have kept important papers. Often people's filing systems differ, so even if it's not stored under 'W' for will, it would be worth checking the entire collection of papers to see if it has been stored with other like items.

If you can't find a will amongst personal papers, there is a good chance it is being held by a lawyer. When going through the deceased's personal papers, keep an eye out for any paperwork from a lawyer, even if it's not related to a will. Often a person will deal with the same lawyer for multiple matters, so there is a good chance that if you find a letter regarding the sale of a property, that same lawyer may also know the whereabouts of the will.

If you can't find any personal papers relating to a lawyer, you might need to make some phone calls. In a smaller town like Ballarat that's not going to be too difficult, but if you're in Melbourne or Geelong that might mean a lot of phone calls. Start calling as a last resort, if you're fairly confident there would be a will somewhere but you're just not sure where. If the deceased has lived in other locations you might also need to check with lawyers in other towns or states.

An added complication of randomly enquiring with lawyers is that firms often close or merge, meaning the firm the will was made with might not exist anymore. That doesn't mean the will is gone, just that it will have been moved to another location. You can make enquiries with the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner or alternatively the Law Institute of Victoria to see if they can point you in the right direction.

You should also get in touch with State Trustees. You can call them on 1300 138 672 to make enquiries about searching their will register. They may either have the will stored with them, or otherwise the will might just be registered with them, meaning they don't hold it but they will know where to find it.

Finally, if you have exhausted all options and you do not have any grounds to believe that a will exists, you can stop searching. The lack of a will is not a disaster, and the next steps to be taken if one cannot be located will be determined by the size and type of the assets of the deceased. Particularly in small estates with a clear beneficiary, the lack of a will does not tend to cause any major problems.

Please contact me to discuss the next steps in administering an intestate estate.