Consultation on Storage and Retention of Will Documents

At present all of the wills and documents submitted in support of probate are preserved indefinitely in the original paper form. These records date back to 1858.

The consultation paper sets out the Government’s proposal to introduce a system for preserving will documents in digital form and seeks views on the principle of moving to digital-only preservation of will documents and, in that event, whether there should still be any retention period for the original paper will documents.

This consultation closes at 11.59pm on 23 February 2024.