How do you find out about a current will? death Jan 2017.

[Finley 1]

It is awful to think that this persons personal effects will be binned..

I know it happens so many times,

For instance a cousin of mine who died  had some wonderful family photos and personal momentos .. but they disappeared after his death  -  LUCKILY   I had been in touch and spent some time with him in his last years and he gave me photocopies of some of his photos... which is a blessing.  But would have loved the originals that have more than likely been binned now.. 

xin

[groom]

The neighbour won't have any interest in them and will probably just bin it all.

Unless the contents of the house have been left to the neighbour, she won't be able to touch anything, that will be left to the executors, who may well be the solicitors. In the case of my uncle, after his nephew had taken anything he wanted, and let me take photos etc that I wanted, the solicitor had the contents valued and anything of value was sold at auction and the proceeds went into the estate. I'm afraid anything of no monetary value was just dumped by the house clearance people.

[StanleysChesterton]

Sad to say this but I've wandered around small outdoor car boot sales in the past and seen random collections of unnamed documents, photos, notebooks etc just strewn on blankets by sellers.... no indication whatsoever where they came from... some will end up in auctions as "mixed box" and sold to all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons.

There's nothing to stop me, say, running to my local auction and seeing a box of stuff and bidding on it, then using it to decoupage a small table ... for example.

It should be made illegal! 

[dawnsh]

If the funeral director can't/won't help, try contacting the cemetery/crematorium and ask if they will send on a letter on your behalf.

[Ruskie]

MET,

Might it be worth specifying that you are not interested in money, and are purely interested in taking (or even just copying) any photos which may surface that no one else may want?

They might mistakenly think you are looking for a share of the estate and may not feel inclined to accommodate your request.

You want don't want to give them any more work to do than they already have, so maybe offer to visit and take any photos of interest if no one else wants them?

[barryd]

If it is an English/Welsh will it should be appearing soon on the Government Web Site. It is a little early in 2017 for the will to be probated. I chose the name Green for 2016 and here are the results. When  you see your person you should be able to order the will on line.

I contacted the Solicitors Clerk last year on a relative's will and she sent me all of the papers which included  BMD Certificates. She gave me a cost for postage and I sent the money. Probably got enough BMD Certificates free to pay the postage

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Wills?Surname=Green&SurnameGrants=Green&YearOfDeath=2016&YearOfDeathGrants=2016&IsGrantSearch=True&IsCalendarSearch=False#wills

[groom]

Trouble is barryd, that by the time the will has gone through probate and appears on the Government web site it will be too late and the house will have been emptied and sold, as it will form part of the estate. It might be interesting to get the will though and find out if money etc had been left to the neighbour and if that is why she was so anxious when a relative appeared. 

[Jebber]

Trouble is barryd, that by the time the will has gone through probate and appears on the Government web site it will be too late and the house will have been emptied and sold, as it will form part of the estate. It might be interesting to get the will though and find out if money etc had been left to the neighbour and if that is why she was so anxious when a relative appeared. 

I may be wrong, but I think you misunderstand when cases appear on the Probate calendar, it is once Probate had been granted, not when the estate has been settled.

For example, I know of a death in July 2015, which appeared on the Probate Calendar in September 2015, the house is only now being emptied and the house sale is only due for completion this month, 16 months after the will wax published on the Probate Calendar.

[groom]

I realise that Jebber, but it does vary. As I said, in the case of my uncle, the executors (solicitor) gave permission for the house to be cleared well before probate was granted. Their reasoning was that they didn't want to leave anything of value in the empty house. Also with my mother, we were told to go ahead and clear the house before probate came through, although obviously it couldn't be sold until it was granted. I suppose a lot may depend how straight forward the estate is.

In the case of things like photos, which are only valuable to people like us, the quicker you can state an interest the better!