Im disappointed in the service received. Ive even provided the name and address of who has the will and still i don't have a result. Its a terrible waste of money in my experience. Customer communicat... See more
While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more
To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more
See what reviewers are saying
We would gratefully like to thank Clive Fowler and the staff of the national wills registry. Who have been very helpful with our quiry about wills for myself and husband with great explanation of wil... See more
Company replied
I don’t normally write reviews but I’m so impressed with the service and knowledge of the staff at the National will register I dealt with Clive who was absolutely brilliant at guiding me thr... See more
Company replied
Will search - Given all relevant information about how they go about the Will search was explained in detail. Friendly, knowledgeable staff and guided me through the process, kept me updated via email... See more
Company replied
Company details
Written by the company
The National Will Register is an essential tool for helping to discover wills that might otherwise go unfound. With approximately half of the UK's wills registered, we’re trusted by more than 5,000 legal professionals, offering a comprehensive solution for will search and registration. Trusted by and working with The Law Society since 2006, The National Will Register plays an essential role in mitigating risks and ensuring due diligence in estate planning and probate work.
Contact info
101 Wharfside Street, B1 1RF, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- 0330 100 3660
- enquiries@certainty.co.uk
- nationalwillregister.co.uk
4.2
Great
65 reviews
No history of asking for reviews
This company hasn't invited their customers, so reviews may not be representative
Hasn’t replied to negative reviews
How this company uses Trustpilot
See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.
Excellent service from The National Will Register
The National Will Register undertook a will search for me and I was very pleased with the service provided. This took longer than expected due to circumstances beyond anyones control, but in the end they were able to confirm the solicitors firm holding the will.
June 6, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi James, thank you for your fantastic review of The National Will Register! Your feedback helps spread the word about the vital work we do, and we truly appreciate your support. Thanks again – Will
Excellent Service
Excellent Service, I would definitely recommend. I was contacted by the company that wrote my will and wasn't confident with the feedback. I was given a link to The National Will Register and was recommended to record my will with them. The contact, Sarah was accommodating indeed, positive feedback and I now have peace of mind. She went above and beyond and was very polite. I would recommend this service and give the reference number to your beneficiaries.
May 30, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi Karen, we’re so grateful for your positive review of The National Will Register! It’s thanks to people like you that more people are discovering the importance of what we do. Thank you! – Will
They got the results I didn’t manage to
I had contacted local Solicitors by email and phone to track down my late father’s Will, but with no success. It was suggested that I contact the National Wills Register and within 2 weeks I had been contacted by the firm of Solicitors holding the Will. I had previously contacted this same firm of solicitors 2 months previously, by both email and phone, and had been told that they held no documents relating to my father. Perhaps I used the wrong terms/language, but National Wills Register clearly used the correct terms in their search and I am grateful to them for their efforts.
April 23, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Thank you for your kind words about The National Will Register. Your review means a lot to us and helps highlight the important service we provide. We’re so glad we could help! – Will
Money for searches
The problem is. They all want money on these sites just to do a family search. Money mad this society..
April 11, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
We’re disappointed to hear about your experience. Your concerns matter to us, and we’d appreciate the chance to assist you. Please email us at enquiries@certainty.co.uk so we can help resolve the issue. – Will
Amazing service
After the passing of my Father, a task was put upon myself to locate the signed and dated copy of his will. Unfortunately; after a great deal of self research and attempted communications with various people, I’d reached a complete dead end and therefore felt it was completely untraceable.
During a conversation with somebody they had recommended the National Will Register. I immediately contacted via phone, as I had questions about the services and needed confirmation their expertise would help further assist my search.
I spoke with Clive who was understanding and explained the whole process thoroughly. I agreed to pay a fee to conduct a ‘will search combined’ and was told, if it’s traceable, I’d hear from the company holding the will directly in 48hr-28 days.
Unbelievably, the next morning I received an email confirming a telephone appointment in regards to a request, of possession of a will. That was not even 24hours since the search was conducted- Incredible.
I would highly recommend the National Will Register to conduct your search! If I knew about them sooner it would’ve saved a huge amount of stress and upset for me.
Thank you to everyone in the team at National Will Register.
February 14, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi Alice-May, thank you so much for your positive review of The National Will Register. Reviews like yours are helping more and more people learn about the important work we do here! Thanks again - Will
Exemplary customer service
Jasbinder and Clive of Certainty have been prompt and thorough in dealings with me over their searching for the possibility of a will. Their customer service is exemplary.
March 9, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Thank you for your fantastic review of The National Will Register! Your feedback helps spread the word about the vital work we do, and we truly appreciate your support. Thanks again – Will
Absolutely useless, waste of money!
Absolutely useless and a waste of money!
The search turned up no Wills, so we proceeded as though intestate!
A week later a Will turned up registered with a local firm dated 1978. This will proved to be null and void, as all people mentioned were dead! Next will turns up 6wks later from another local firm and was admitted!
September 1, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi Berny, thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re sorry your experience didn’t meet expectations, we would like to help resolve this. Please email us at enquiries@certainty.co.uk, and we’ll do our best to assist you. – Will
Excellent advice
Excellent advice, after struggling to find the information I needed from the bank and my solicitor, the National Will Register gave be comprehensive, accurate information for my situation and left me confident that my will shall be safe and my wishes conveyed to my executor. Thank you so much for peace of mind!
June 9, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi Ernst, thank you for your kind words about The National Will Register. Your review means a lot to us and helps highlight the important service we provide. We’re so glad we could help! – Will
Very happy with service
Very happy with service. Setting up will was easy and they explained everything well
Had query today , (year later after setting up will, emailed them and they rang back within the hour
December 13, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Your lovely review of The National Will Register made our day! It’s wonderful to know our work is appreciated, and your support helps us reach even more people. Thanks so much – Will
I have put 3 stars as not used service…
I have put 3 stars as not used service yet. I wonder though why I should pay £30 to register my will yet the HM Courts Probate Service only charge £20.
August 12, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Jassythedog,
Many thanks for your review. A Will can be registered on your behalf by your solicitor or professional Will writer who use The National Will Register. They can register a Will free of charge for you.
As the UK's National Will Register, we provide the service to register the existence of a Will for the following reasons;
- Executors and Beneficiaries unaware - Original Wills, safely stored by law firms, may be overlooked because executors and beneficiaries are unaware of their existence or location.
- Ensure final wishes are known - The time has been taken to outline final wishes in a Will and a Will Registration helps to ensure these are made known.
- Prevent incorrect distribution - Ensure that a Will can be located and used to correctly distribute an estate, removing the risks associated with a Will being lost, misplaced or forgotten about over the passage of time.
- Mitigate against intentional suppression - The knowledge of the existence and whereabouts of a Will may be intentionally suppressed by a discontented next of kin. Registering a Will ensures it can be searched for, located quickly and discussed confidentially.
We hope this helps to explain the reason The National Will Register exists. We want to ensure the latest valid Will can be found confidentially and quickly at the precise time it is needed.
Many thanks,
The National Will Register
awful
awful, paid £120 for them to break confidentiality!!
do not use these people
July 31, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Meril,
Thank you for your review, however I believe this may be for another company. We are The National Will Register offering Will Registration and Will Search Services. We do not have a service available with a fee of £120. Furthermore, having checked our customer records we have no record of your name as a customer.
Please may you contact the team on 0330 100 3660 to discuss, or kindly remove this review and place it with the rightful company.
Many thanks,
The National Will Register
Just a Data Base search company....
So essentially what this company does is search a data base. They then give legal practices affiliated to that data base 4 to 6 weeks to respond to the search request and then they tell you, yes they've found something or no they've found nothing.
What they're not doing is actively looking for the Will. They're not calling people, searching the internet, investigating on your behalf - the things you think they are doing.
If the legal practice that produced the Will of the deceased person added them to the data base then Certainty will 'certainly' find them. If not, they wont. It's that simple.
I couldn't find my Dad's original Will. Certainty, after 6 weeks said they couldn't either. The solicitor that produced the Will had shut down and moved on - so I had no idea where the original Will was.
After getting a negative from Certainty, a quick check of Companies House on the internet, 2 hours searching for ex directors, I made contact and tracked down my Dad's Will in 2 hours. (No exaggeration). Not overly happy with my solicitor for not doing that himself or for pointing me in the direction of Certainty.
My advice, search yourself, press your solicitor to act diligently on your behalf and as a last hope try Certainty...
July 29, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Laurie,
Thank you for taking the time to write your review. We apologise the service requested is not in line with your expectations. It appears you have outlined the Will Search Combined service. A Will Search Combined performs three key searches to look for Wills that have been registered and for Wills that have not been registered.
- Will Register Search - checks to see if a Will has been registered with Certainty the National Will Register, which currently sits at over 8.4 million records (and rising daily)
- Will REACH Search - performs a REACH search which is a nationwide, geographically targeted search for Wills that have not been registered amongst Certainty member and non-member law firms and Will Writers (members of recognised Will Writing organisations including the IPW and SWW) - up to 225 active law firms and Will writers in the areas provided are contacted on your behalf to search their records and report back.
- Missing Will Notice Board - places a notice on the Certainty Missing Will Notice Board that is issued to Certainty member solicitors
- Missing Will, Trustee Indemnity Insurance quotation – provides a quotation should you require it
For transparency, this is explained clearly before any Will Search order is placed here - https://www.nationalwillregister.co.uk/willsearch/willsearch.aspx
We are also grateful for highlighting a real issue we work daily to mitigate against in the industry, which is ensuring Wills are registered so that they can be found quickly. In the situation you have outlined above, it appears the law firm who drafted your late father's Will did not register the existence of this Will before closing down, causing additional distress and time spent at an already difficult time. If the Will was registered, you are absolutely right, it would be found immediately and simply. Thousands of solicitors and professional Will writers ensure all their Wills are registered with Certainty The National Will Register for their clients to alleviate this situation, which is why we have built a Will register over over 8.4 million records and rising. As you can appreciate, if a law firm has closed down they would also not be available to contact to search for a Will that has not been registered, search their Will storage records and of course report back.
We are really pleased to learn you have found your late father's Will and would be happy to speak to you if we can assist you further.
We would encourage any member of the public facing similar circumstances or concerns to speak to their solicitor or Will writer to ensure their Will is registered.
Many thanks,
The Will Search Team
I spoke to Clive on Monday and by…
I spoke to Clive on Monday and by Thursday i had heard from my late Dad's executor to say she had the will and that myself and my sister are beneficiaries in his will.
Although my Dad's wife is still alive and my Dad died 6 months ago she has not mentioned anything to us so i decided to use Certainity so i could get some closure.
Thank you very much for your excellent service.
June 11, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Jed,
Many thanks for your kind review. We are extremely pleased the service has helped you at this difficult time. We will pass on your comments to Clive who has spent the last 11 years helping individuals such as yourselves find a Will.
Kind regards,
Certainty The National Will Register
My name is Clare/ error at name above...I was literally going out of my mind until I found this....
My mother past away Oct 2019, her passing was sudden and the fallout of my mothers assets had become somewhat hostile and highly emotional, the mere thought of this process sent shivers down my spine as I had had the same experience twenty years earlier with my fathers passing and consequently his will was also messy to say the least, weeks prior to my contacting this service, I think I had rang over 45 Solicitors in the London area, desperately trying to search for my mothers Will but to no avail, then in my emails a very kind decent solicitor emailed me to say that I should contact this service as it would avoid substantial costs on my part if I were to get a solicitor to do this, but also it would benafit me with a peace of mind. I cannot Express enough the absolute professionalism of the people I spoke with on every level of this company, the manner, the empathy, the warmth, it was overwhelming in the best possible way, I spoke with a timeless gentleman, Clive, a million thank you's to Clive, who guided me through this process, the sleepless nights, the anxiety I had suffered prior to this immediately stopped, I am still in the process of waiting to see if a Will exists, but whether it does or not I honestly feel that it has no hold or bind on me any more, I feel that I have made the best most decisive efforts to find this, but knowing I may not find what does not exist has given me a fresh perspective on my own efforts. I cannot stress enough the level of kindness, the manner of the wonderful people employed here is of utter utter class, incredible... if the country was run like this we would be living in a utopia of excellence. God bless you& thank you !!
October 1, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Thank you so much for your positive review of The National Will Register. Reviews like yours are helping more and more people learn about the important work we do here! Thanks again - Will
Avoid
Terrible service. Avoid them. I told them at the outset that there was a will but wanted to know if there was a later version. After months this company could not even locate the will I had told them about and said their search had drawn a complete blank. Pathetic and very disappointing
September 29, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi Paul, we’re sorry to hear about your experience with The National Will Register. Your feedback is important to us. Please reach out to our team at enquiries@certainty.co.uk so we can look to assist you further. – Will
Excellent service
We recently discovered that the solicitor that held my Mum’s will had gone out of business many years ago leaving no trail of where the will had ended up. More importantly, the Solicitor also held the deeds of her house. The house isn’t registered with the land registry and there was no way of getting a copy so this left her with a big problem as it meant she had little proof of ownership and it would have cost a lot of money and time to get this corrected. Having spoken to other organisations for help we were just told it was too long ago and no one could help. We phoned Certainty the National will register to see if we could conduct a will search and they were incredibly helpful in advising us the best way to go about this to increase our chances as this is a ‘non deceased’ search, and how the process worked. We went ahead with the search and as a direct result the solicitor that is currently holding the will has made contact and confirmed they also have the deeds. This is a huge relief. I was also impressed that, as I was talking to Certainty on behalf of my Mum, they did due diligence to ensure my Mum was fully aware and happy with the search we were conducting. I would highly recommend this service.
September 10, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Anita,
Thank you for such a candid review outlining your particular circumstances which lead to the need to use a Certainty Will Search from The National Will Register and have had the best result you could have expected in the circumstances. It is wonderful to read that the results gave you clarity you needed to move forward with your Mum.
Kind regards,
The Team at Certainty the National Will Register
Grateful thanks
Used the " combined search" to locate my friends will. This service prevented next of kin from claiming her estate. The will was found and I was contacted by the solicitors who held her will. My friends wishes regarding her estate can now be fulfilled. Money for search well spent. Thank you for providing this service
August 17, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Barbara,
Thank you for the review. It humbles us to understand the context behind your need to search for a Will and how our service has helped you, the solicitors holding the Will and of course fulfilling your friends final wishes as they would have wanted.
We wish you well,
The Team at Certainty The National Will Register Limited
Thank You
It has been a difficult time for me losing my father. It was a lot harder because I couldn’t find his Will. I thought he had put it with his important paperwork but it wasn’t there. I tried to find it, called a few places and was referred to Certainty, the National Will Register. I did what they call a ‘combined search’ and thankfully they found it. When the solicitor who wrote the Will contacted me I felt very emotional. I can’t thank them enough.
August 16, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Susan,
Thank you for taking the time to write this review at what is understandably a difficult time for you at the moment. Your review and the circumstances which has led you to the Certainty Will Search service from Certainty the National Will Register will hopefully help others finding themselves in a similar difficult situation. We simply exist to trace missing, later and unknown Wills at the time they are needed.
Take Care,
The Team at Certainty The National Will Register Limited
My experience with Certainty the…
My experience with Certainty the National Will Register was really excellent. They had a very helpful and hard-working young girl called Chloe who, so I believe, carried out more than 70 (seventy) searches for me. Also, I think Certainty (also believe through Chloe?) contacted very many legal firms of Solicitors. I do not know the total number of searches but they could have amounted to 100's.
January 16, 2020
Reply from The National Will Register
Hi Pamela, thank you for your fantastic review of The National Will Register! Your feedback helps spread the word about the vital work we do, and we truly appreciate your support. Thanks again – Will
AVOID AT ALL COST
This company doesn’t even deserve 1 star. I purchased a search for £114, for registered and unregistered wills. It took the company over a month to return to me with we cannot find a will. However if you purchase more services we can look into it for you. I found two wills in 2 days myself, at no charge. I found the details of this company on citizen advise bureau site. I will also be contacting them to flag the type of companies they’re marketing. I’ve asked for a refund and I will be taking the matter further. Avoid at all cost
January 1, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from The National Will Register
Dear Nish,
Thank you for the review with Trustpilot. We are extremely pleased that you have found a Will; we get a lift here every time a Will is found.
We would like to just confirm the service that had been requested on 27th November 2019. A Will Search Combined searches The National Will Register to check if the Will being searched for has been registered. There are in excess of 8.4 million Wills in the system which were searched against using the details provided for the Will Search to commence. The Will Search Combined also performs a REACH search which is a nationwide, geographically targeted search for Wills that have not been registered amongst Certainty member and non-member law firms and Will Writers (members of recognised Will Writing organisations including the IPW and SWW. With the areas given for your Will Search, 89 law firms and 77 Will writers were notified via REACH.
The Will Search Combined runs for 28 days to allow firms and Will writers contacted to search their records and report back accordingly if they have a positive match. This is explained on www.nationalwillregister.co.uk in the ‘About Will Search’.
We do apologise for the slight delay in issuing the report. Due to the nature of the festive period and bank holidays, the office was closed from Christmas Eve 24th December to Friday 27th December. In line with our usual process the report should have been issued on 26th December, which was unfortunately a bank holiday. Your Will Search Report was subsequently issued as priority after the office opened following the Christmas period.
The additional service being cited in your review was to help you obtain a no obligation quote for Missing Will, Trustee Indemnity Insurance quotation should you require it. This is a service included in the Will Search Combined you have purchased.
We do hope information helps. In addition, we have asked a couple of further questions to you via email confidential to the details of the Will Search requested and would be most grateful if you could respond in order for us to fully investigate further.
Kind regards,
Certainty the National Will Register
The Trustpilot Experience
Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.
Companies can ask for reviews via automatic invitations. Labeled Verified, they’re about genuine experiences.
Learn more about other kinds of reviews.
We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.
Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.
Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.
Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.
Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.