What is the National Will Register? And should you use it?

If you’ve been listening to the Radio 4 series Grave Robbers, you might be a little worried. How can the National Will Register help?

What is Grave Robbers on Radio 4?

It’s a 5-part series investigating fraudsters who steal properties and assets from the deceased usually those who die intestate (without a will) or sometimes those with one. If you die without a will, your name is listed on the Bona Vacantia website – a list of unclaimed estates. Criminals go onto the website then target these estates and create fraudulent wills. They submit them to the probate office and attempt to get control of the assets, some very successfully.

4 things to protect yourself from fraudsters

In our recent blog on the subject we recommended the need to do four things to protect yourself from fraudsters:

Write a will

Leave your will with your solicitor

Tell your family where you keep your will

Consider registering your will with the National Will Register

In this blog, we look at that last option.

What is the National Will Register?

The National Will Register is the UK’s will registration and will search service. It has over 10.5 million wills in its system and they work with The Law Society. It is an increasingly popular service: at peak times, one will is registered every two seconds.

How much does it cost?

To register a will, it costs £30 including Vat. HOWEVER, the National Will Register regularly run Free Registration Months, usually in May of each year. If you have several wills to register (yours, your spouse, other family members) it might be worth making a note in your diary and contacting the National Will Registry in May 2026.

Peace of mind

Less than 50% of people in the UK have written a will. But even if a will is written, if no-one knows where it’s kept, or stored, problems can still persist. The National Wills Register helps to solve this complication.

For more information about writing your will, please contact Mark Shaw on 01274 519351 or email mark.shaw@awbclaw.co.uk