Finding a Will

[suemalings]

A couple of years ago a cousin of mine died and I obtained a copy of the will. I got it on line, just put in the name and date of death and a list was produced of deaths on that date. I paid £1.50 and got a PDF of the will. However, I cannot remember what site I used! I have searched "Find a Will" but can't find the site I originally used. Anyone any ideas?

[christanel]

Could it be this one, which is not the original site I had bookmarked but is now defunct.
https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate
Christina

[Pam Downes]

I think the updated version of the original site you used is this
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/
but you have to know the year of death.

Underwhelming updating of a site, IMO. Presume that's what happens when you have too many people working from home, and fiddling around for the sake of it.

[Lesley Robertson]

No, there’s a law that says that when any site is upgraded, it’s never as good again!

[westernwombat]

I had only a minimal info to enter, but I had already seen at Ancestry one that I thought would be a test, using that link given above.
It was Albert THOMAS who died May 1946 in Wales, probate granted 20 May 1948.
The result returned was for a page of surname ABBOTT - so I give it a FAIL.
(I have highlighted the data that I entered)

[suemalings]

I had a problem with a person who died in December one year but probate was the following year. Nothing came up on the site. I referred to the list but that was for the year of death not the year of probate. I am going to try again but this time omit the death date and just fill in the probate date bit. See if I get anything.

[Megan Roberts]

A while back I saw a youtube video about how to deal with the awful new site. I can't find the link

However, from memory the best piece of advice seemed to be to forget the idea of searching on names but rather to find the year and use the first letter of the surname and then scroll through the pages!!!

[Pam Downes]

The cheat's way is to access the Probate Calendar via FMP or Ancestry, and then just fill in the details on the actual government site from those entries.
FMP's entries go from 1858 to 2019. Data set is called England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019.
Ancestry's entries go from 1858- 1995, and the data set is called England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.

Interestingly, at the top of the government page it says 'BETA - this is a new service. Your feedback will help us to improve it'. So take them at their word and send them feedback. It's the only way things might improve.

[wimsey]

I've just used the Find A Will site to order a will of someone who died in November 1979 and the probate was January 1980. At first it couldn't find it so I tried with 1980 as the death year and it found the correct entry.

I'm just passing that on as a possible tip.