How to Get a Copy of a Will in the UK

The answer depends on where you are in the process.

Before probate is granted, a will is a private document. There is no legal requirement for anyone to share it with family members, beneficiaries, or the public at this stage. The executor holds it, and they are under no obligation to show it to you before they apply for probate.

After probate is granted, the situation changes. In England and Wales, once the Probate Registry issues a Grant of Probate, the will becomes a public document. Anyone can apply for a copy. This is true whether or not you are connected to the estate.

Scotland and Northern Ireland work differently, and those are covered in their own sections below.

The executor

Whoever the deceased named as executor has the right to hold and read the will. If the deceased used a solicitor to draft the will, the solicitor will usually have kept a copy. The original is typically held by the solicitor, at the deceased's home, or lodged with a bank.

Beneficiaries named in the will

If you are named as a Beneficiary, you do not automatically have the right to see the full document before probate. In practice, many executors share a copy or at least confirm who is named, but there is no general legal rule requiring them to do so at this stage. Public access to the will comes once probate is granted.

People who are not named

If you are not named in the will and are not the executor, you generally have no legal right to see the will before probate. This can be painful when family members feel excluded, but the law is clear on this point.

There is one narrow exception: if you are a spouse or civil partner and believe you may have a financial claim on the estate regardless of the will (for example, under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 in England and Wales), a solicitor can advise on whether you have grounds to seek access through the courts. This is unusual and worth taking legal advice on before pursuing.

Once the Probate Registry in England and Wales issues a Grant of Probate, both the grant and the will attached to it become public records. You can request a copy at any point after that, for any reason.

How to search the Probate Registry

The easiest way is online. The Government's Find a Will service is at gov.uk/search-will-probate. You can search by the name of the person who died and, ideally, their date of death and last known county of residence. The search covers grants made from 1858 onwards.

If you find a match, you can order a copy of the grant and the will. As of April 2026, each copy ordered online costs £16. The same fee applies to postal requests. Costs may change, so check the current fee on the HMCTS website before ordering.

Note that records typically appear on the online service around 14 days after probate is issued, so a very recent grant may not yet be searchable.

If you cannot find the grant online, it is possible that:

• Probate has not yet been granted (it can take several months after death)
• The estate was small enough that probate was not required
• The person died intestate (without a will) and letters of administration were issued instead of a grant of probate
• The grant was issued recently and has not yet appeared in the online records

If you want to search by post, you can submit Form PA1S to the address on the form. HMCTS runs the probate service centrally and does not currently offer an in-person search service at registry offices.

If probate has not yet been granted and you have a legitimate need to see the will, there are a few options.

Ask the executor directly. If you know who the executor is, you can ask them for a copy. They are not legally required to provide one before probate, but many will do so. If they refuse and you are a named beneficiary, a solicitor can write to them formally requesting sight of the document.

Contact the deceased's solicitor. If the deceased used a solicitor to make their will, that solicitor may hold the original or a copy. The solicitor will confirm whether they hold a will, and they will usually release it to the named executor. They will not typically share it with other family members without the executor's authority or a court order.

Apply for a Standing Search at the Probate Registry. A Standing Search is a useful tool if you want to be notified automatically when a grant is made for a particular person's estate. You apply using Form PA1S and pay a fee of £3. The search remains active for six months and can be renewed. When the grant is made, the Probate Registry will send you a copy automatically. This is particularly useful if you are concerned that an executor might not inform you when probate is granted. Note that the copy sent following a Standing Search is not a sealed copy.

This is one of the most common practical problems after a death. The person mentioned making a will but no one knows where it is, or different family members have different versions of events.

Check the obvious places first

Most wills are kept at home. Look through filing cabinets, desk drawers, safes, and boxes of important documents. Also check bank safety deposit boxes if you know the deceased used one.

Contact their solicitor

If you know the solicitor the person used, contact them. Even if they did not draft the will themselves, they may know where the original is held. If you do not know which solicitor they used, check old correspondence, bank statements (solicitor fees or references), and any documents you can find in the estate.

Search the National Will Register

Certainty (certainty.co.uk) runs the National Will Register in the UK. It is a voluntary register, meaning solicitors and individuals can register a will's existence without depositing the document itself. A search costs a small fee and can be done by anyone using the deceased's name.

The register does not hold copies of wills. It holds a record of where a will is held. If a match is found, the full location details are typically released only to authorised people, such as executors, close family members, or beneficiaries, and you may need to provide identification or evidence of your relationship. If you qualify, you then contact the solicitor named and request a copy through them.

Contact the Probate Registry (England and Wales)

If you think probate may already have been granted (for example, if an executor has been quietly administering the estate), search the gov.uk Find a Will service. Grants are recorded there once issued.

Consider whether the will was revoked

A will can be revoked intentionally (the person made a new will or destroyed the old one) or automatically in some circumstances. In England and Wales, marriage or civil partnership revokes any existing will unless the will was made specifically in contemplation of that marriage. In Scotland, marriage does not automatically revoke a will, though it can affect the rights of a surviving spouse. A solicitor can advise if you have reason to think revocation may be relevant.

If no will exists, or the will cannot be found and is presumed destroyed, the estate passes under the intestacy rules. These rules vary by UK jurisdiction and may produce a very different result from what the person intended.

The rules are set out in the intestacy rules guide. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, an unmarried partner receives nothing under the intestacy rules, however long the relationship. In Scotland the position differs slightly: a surviving cohabitant may apply to the court for provision from the estate under section 29 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, though this is a discretionary court application and not an automatic right. Children inherit before siblings in all UK jurisdictions. The exact shares depend on what other family members survive.

If you suspect a will existed but has been destroyed or concealed, you can raise this with a solicitor and, in extreme cases, apply to the court. Destroying a will or concealing it is a serious matter, but proving it happened is difficult without evidence.

A will can be challenged on several grounds: the person lacked mental capacity when they signed it, they were under undue influence from another person, the will was not properly witnessed, or it is a forgery.

Challenging a will is a legal process and requires legal advice. If you have serious concerns, act quickly. Distributing the estate becomes much more complicated once assets have been paid out to beneficiaries.

The time limits vary depending on the type of claim. A claim for reasonable financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 must normally be made within six months of the Grant of Probate. A challenge to the validity of the will itself (for example, on grounds of lack of capacity or undue influence) is a different type of claim with different procedural rules. A solicitor can advise on what applies to your situation and how urgently you need to act.

Before paying legal fees, consider whether your concern is well-founded. Disputes about wills are often painful and expensive, and outcomes are uncertain. A solicitor can give you an honest assessment of the strength of any claim.

If you are a spouse, civil partner, or financial dependent who has been left nothing or very little, you may have a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (England and Wales) or equivalent provisions in Scotland under the legal rights rules (prior rights and legal rights, including jus relictae/jus relicti for spouses and legitim for children). These rights apply regardless of what the will says and are separate from challenging the will's validity.

Copies, not originals

When you request a copy from the Probate Registry in England and Wales, you receive a copy of the grant and will. Copies obtained through the online search service or by postal application are generally suitable for administering the estate. Note that a copy sent following a Standing Search is not a sealed copy. In Northern Ireland, the NICTS copy documents form offers both certified and uncertified options at different costs. You do not need the original will document to administer the estate.

Multiple copies

If you are an executor dealing with multiple banks, financial institutions, or government bodies, it is worth ordering several certified copies at the outset. Sending out and waiting for returns is slow. Having five or six copies from the start is usually cheaper than the time lost chasing originals.

Sealed wills

Occasionally a person instructs that their will should be sealed and not read until after their death, or held by a solicitor under confidentiality. This is unusual but legally possible. If this applies, the solicitor will release the will to the executor after the death and may read it out formally. The process is the same thereafter.

• How to apply for probate
• Do I need probate?
• Intestacy rules (when there is no will)
• Making a will
• Where to keep a will