After receiving 1,600 responses, HMRC have published the outcome to their consultation, ‘storage and retention of original will documents’ which had outlined proposals for introducing a digital system for preserving paper wills currently held in storage.
The Principal Probate Registry currently holds 110 million paper wills which are stored along with Probate applications. The estimated annual cost of storing these is £4.5 million.
The original consultation sought responses on the following:
- The possibility of moving to a digital system to store and preserve wills currently held in storage.
- Would there be any retention period for the original paper wills before being destroyed.
- Should a digital system apply to historical figures, notable figures and celebrities.
- How should the legislation be amended if a decision is made to move to a digital system:
- Via the electronic Communications Act 2000,
- By pursuing primary legislative reform in a Bill before parliament.
The responses to the consultation raised a significant number of issues on digitising the current archive of wills such as security, reliability, durability and authenticity. There was support for the move to digital form, provided the original copy was kept in paper form. The destruction of the original paper wills was a largely unpopular proposal.
Next Steps:
Due to the large response regarding the destruction of the original paper wills, no procedures will be put in place to destroy the current paper wills.
Consideration will, however, need to be given to the costs associated with storing the 110 million wills currently in storage, this will likely be in the form of increasing the cost of obtaining a copy of a will.
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IHT: Estate Planning Checklist
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Deed of Variation
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External link
Consultation: Storage and retention of original will documents.
