The National Will Register, the will registration and will search service, has launched its Free Will Registration Month today (Friday).
Throughout the month, members of the public and legal professionals can register their own or their clients’ wills free of charge, saving the usual £30 standard registration fee.
The initiative has run for a number of years, with 2025 seeing record uptake.
Doug Hargrove is senior vice-president at OneAdvanced Legal, which operates the National Will Register. He said: “Estate planning does not end when a will is written. If that document cannot be found at the point of need, the consequences are not theoretical, they are real, affecting families, beneficiaries and the professionals responsible for getting it right.
“At OneAdvanced Legal, we see first-hand the importance of building certainty into every stage of the process. Free Will Registration Month is about addressing that gap at a national level, encouraging a shift from assumption to certainty. It is a simple step, but one that strengthens trust in the process and ensures that final wishes are not just recorded, but realised.”
Explaining how the service works, Hargrove said National Will Register does not see or store the actual will. Instead, the system securely records the details of the solicitor or location where the physical document is safely held. This allows individuals to maintain their affairs in good order without compromising their privacy. Then, when someone passes away, the system only allows legitimate searches, requiring a copy of the death certificate with the search undertaken by an executor or a named beneficiary.
According to research published by the National Will Register in its 2025 National Wills Report, only 37% of UK adults have made a will, and over half of respondents to the survey informing the research said they do not know where their parents’ wills are stored. With families increasingly open to discussing end-of-life plans, with 79% now saying they are comfortable talking about death, there remains a gap in practical preparedness.
Free Will Registration Month runs between 1st May 2026 and 31st May 2026. Wills can be registered using the code FREEWILLREG26 for the duration of the initiative.
