What to Do If the Will Cannot be Found

Last updated on April 8, 2020

A loved one of yours has passed away. You know that he/she made a will but unfortunately you haven’t been able to find it. This is even after you have checked his/her personal belongings and asked family members and relatives if they know where the will was kept.

You need the will in order to apply for a Grant of Probate before you can start distributing the deceased’s assets. So what can you do if you cannot find your deceased relative’s will?

Search the Wills Registry for Information on the Will

The Wills Registry is maintained by the Singapore Academy of Law and allows testators (people making a will) to conveniently deposit information on their will for a small fee. Such information includes:

The date of the will
Who drew up the will
Where the will is held

The Wills Registry will store such information for 120 years from the testator’s date of birth. However, it does not keep originals or photocopies of the will.

If your deceased relative had deposited information on his/her will with the Wills Registry, you can retrieve this information using the “Search for Existing Will Record” service at the Singapore Academy of Law Wills Registry page. The service costs $10.00 to use.

Ask the Lawyer Who Drew Up the Will

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If you don’t know which lawyer drew up the will, don’t fret! ? Try searching the Wills Registry for information on the will of the deceased instead. If there’s a record of your deceased relative’s will in the Registry, you’ll have information on the date of the will, who drew up the will, and the location of the will. Note that this service costs $10, though! ? – Alternatively, you could place a notice in the Law Gazette to reach out to the lawyer who wrote the will – though this will set you back by $214. ? You could also attempt to locate a draft or a copy of the will, as the court has the ability to grant probate of a copy or draft of a will, until the original will is found. However, if you’re using this approach to obtain probate, it’d be best to hire a lawyer to assist you with this process. ? – If you’ve exhausted all your options and end up not being able to find your deceased relative’s will, it’s most likely that their assets will be distributed according to the rules set out in the Intestate Succession Act, and such distribution may not be according to the deceased’s wishes. ? It’s for this reason that you should tell your closer relatives where you’ve kept your will, or to prepare copies of your will! After all, when there’s a will, there’s a way – but that means nothing if it can’t be found. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #SingaporeLegalAdvice

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If your deceased relative had engaged a lawyer to draw up the will, you may check with the lawyer if the law firm has kept the original will (or a copy of it).

If you don’t know which lawyer drew up the will:

Try searching the Wills Registry for this information (see above).
Alternatively, you can place a notice with the Law Society to reach out to the lawyer who did so. It costs members of the public $214.00 to place this notice. The lawyer who drafted the will may then contact you upon seeing it.

Note that even if the lawyer’s law firm has kept the original will or copies of it, the lawyer can disclose its contents only to the executors of the will until probate has been granted. This is unless the executors consent to disclosure of the will’s contents before the grant of probate.

Look for a Copy or Draft of the Will

As provided by section 9 of the Probate and Administration Act, the court can grant probate of a copy or draft of the will until the original will is found. It is also possible for the court to grant probate of the contents of the will even without such copies or drafts if the will’s contents can be sufficiently established without them.

The procedure for applying to the court for an order to admit a draft, or copy, or the contents of the will to proof can be found at rule 248 of the Family Justice Rules. However, you may want to hire a lawyer to assist you with this process as it could potentially be a contentious one.

If the court grants your application to admit a draft, or copy, or the contents of the will to proof, you may then proceed to apply for grant of probate.

Learn how to obtain a copy of a deceased’s will in Singapore in our other article.

What If None of These Options Work for You?

If you have explored all of these options but are still unable to find the original will or copies of it, your deceased relative’s assets will be distributed to his/her surviving relatives according to the rules in the Intestate Succession Act.