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Will storage is an important albeit unexciting legal topic. If you have a will, you should safeguard it properly. The will also should be in a place that is reasonably accessible to your personal representative (executor) after your death. Generally, it is not a good idea to leave your will in your home. It could be destroyed by fire, misplaced or even stolen by a disinherited heir. If, however, you decide to keep your will at home, you should keep it in a fireproof lockbox or safe. You also should consider giving a key or the combination to the box to your personal representative or other trusted relative or friend. The disadvantage of keeping your will in a bank safe-deposit box is that access to it after your death may require a court order. Banks often seal safe-deposit boxes after learning of the death of one renting the box. A trick often used by married couples is for the husband to place his will in his wife's safe-deposit box and the wife to place her will in his safe-deposit box. Some lawyers store wills for their clients. You should consider this option only if your lawyer places them in a fireproof container. Alternatively, your lawyer may rent a safe-deposit box at a bank. This would be a good choice. Keep one or more copies of your will for your records. These copies should not be signed, although it may be wise to indicate on the copies the names of those who signed the original and the date of signing. This can be done by printing or typing (not cursive handwriting) each name preceded by this symbol: /s/. Thus, the signature lines on the copies of your will might look like this example:
Simply fill in the dates as they appear on your original will. You may wish to give copies of your will to your personal representative or others. If you do this, make a notation on the copy, or an envelope containing it, indicating where the original may be found. Keep for yourself a list of those to whom copies were given. This will make it easy to retrieve all the copies if you change your will later. When you write a new will, you should destroy the original and all copies of the old one. This lessens the possibility of mistake or confusion regarding the validity of a will located after your death. If you have gone to the bother and expense of preparing a will, be sure the document is adequately safeguarded. |