Secure Document Storage & Free Updates

When your documents have been signed and witnessed, it is important to keep them safe. One of the last things your family or executors will want to have to deal with after you have gone is spending time searching for your Will. Your Will is your property, and you choose where to keep it.

Pemberley Wills has its own facilities to securely store our customer’s documents, giving you peace of mind knowing they can be found and retrieved quickly when needed.

Your documents are scanned on arrival, enabling us to securely store your documents in both digital and physical formats, then you are given a Certificate of Safe Custody and 2 executor cards, enabling them to retrieve your documents from the archive when required.

Your Will is also registered with the National Will Register. This is the Law Society's endorsed provider of a national Will register and Will Search service. Should there be any confusion as to its location in the future, a simple online search could prove vital in guiding your executors to the location of the original Will. In summary, the benefits are:

• Your original documents are safe for the long-term, free from the risk of being lost in a move, misplaced, forgotten, damaged or destroyed in a fire or flood, or even intentionally sabotaged. A copy Will cannot be used when administering your estate after your death.
• Your executors will only be able to retrieve your Will with evidence of identification along with your death certificate.
• You can make alterations to your Will without further cost*. In our experience, few people go more than 7 years without changing their Will. Remember, you may not want to change your Will, but circumstances may change around you, forcing you to make changes. Many people view the annual cost as ‘insuring’ themselves against future changes in their circumstances.
• The first year is free and the cost will not increase in the future. After the first year the annual cost is £32.50 + VAT (£39 incl. VAT), once a year by Direct Debit. The cost is the same for a couple storing their Wills together.
• You can retrieve your documents at any time without any additional cost*.
• You can contact us at any time to ask questions or seek further advice without further cost.
• Receive an annual email reminder to update your wishes along with relevant industry news.
  *(See clause 7 of our Terms of Business).

No. Your Will is your property, and you choose where to keep it. In our experience, few people go more than 7 years without changing their Will. Remember, you may not want to change your Will, but circumstances may change around you, forcing you to make changes. Many people view the annual cost as ‘insuring’ themselves against future changes in their circumstances.

Upon receipt of your documents, they will be checked to ensure they have been signed, witnessed, and dated correctly, then scanned. We will then email you a link to set up a direct debit which will start next year. For example, if you signed your Will on 12th June 2021, your direct debit will start on 1st June 2022. We use GoCardless to collect payments.

In all cases, we require the return of the original documents in the first instance so they can be checked and scanned for our records. But if, after considering all the above factors, you do not wish to store your documents with us, we will return them to you by registered mail for your safekeeping.