Where is Your Original Will?
At Sottile & Hopkins we get many calls over the course of the year from clients (or family of deceased clients) asking if we have their original wills. Many people think that their will is filed at the court house after it is signed. The only procedure in South Carolina for filing your will in the normal course of things is upon your death. Most folks don't want to file it quite that badly. We give the original will to the client after making a signed copy for our file, which we keep for seven years. The original will should be kept in a bank safe deposit box or in a fire-proof box at your home or office. If the original is lost, the copy we retain may be of some use unless any heirs of the decedent object. Some lawyers offer to keep the original will knowing that the family will have to come back to them to get the original after death and they hope to get hired to handle the probate administration. We do not like that approach. We believe that the client should keep the original will in almost every case. Years later a new will might be drafted by a different attorney, resulting in the existence of two original wills which can cause much needless confusion after the client's death.
- 1 year ago
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