When you can't find a will
Can't find a will? Here is what to do next
Written and reviewed by our experienced team. Last verified against gov.uk on 26 July 2026. ProbateCheck is an independent service, not a law firm.
If you cannot find a will in the probate records, work through four steps: check the year of death and the year after, try every name variation, lodge a £4 standing search if probate may not have been granted yet, and consider that probate may never have been needed. If you would rather not, we run the whole search for £29.
Step 1: rule out the grant-year trap
Records are filed under the year the grant was issued, not the year of death. Search the year the person died and the following year before concluding anything.
Step 2: exhaust name variations
Try maiden names, middle names used as first names, initials, and spelling variants. Exact-name searching is the most common reason a real record stays hidden.
Step 3: lodge a standing search if it is recent
If the death was recent, probate may simply not have been granted yet. A standing search costs £4, lasts six months, and delivers the documents to you automatically if a grant is issued in that window.
Step 4: consider that probate may not be needed
Jointly owned property and accounts below the banks' thresholds often pass without probate, so no public record is ever created even though a will exists.
Or let us do all of it: £29 all in
We search every name variation across the correct index years, obtain the grant and the will if they exist, lodge and monitor a standing search if they do not, and explain what it all means. Government fees are included.
Let us do the whole search, £29 all in
We search every name variation across the correct index years, obtain the grant and the will, lodge a standing search if no grant exists yet, and explain it all in plain English. Government fees included.
Start with a free checkFrequently asked questions
What should I do if I can't find a will?+
Check the year of death and the year after, try every name variation, and if the death was recent lodge a £4 standing search so a future grant reaches you automatically. If probate was never needed, no public record will exist.
Can a solicitor find a will for me?+
Yes, but for a record that already exists in the probate index the document a solicitor or will-search firm retrieves is the same £16 public copy. A managed search service obtains it for a flat fee without solicitor rates.
What if probate has not been granted yet?+
Lodge a standing search for £4. It is valid for six months and, if a grant of probate is issued in that period, the documents are sent to you automatically.