Government Proposals to Destroy Millions of Wills

Yes. You read the headline correctly.

The government is proposing to destroy millions of wills going back to the 1800s, thus making the original paper documents unavailable to historians & genealogists. These are the wills held by HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), dating back to 1858 when the Principal Registry was established.

Unsurprisingly though, this is not the spin the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) put on it when their 10-week consultation was announced on 15 December 2023.

Pitching the proposals at genealogists and historians, they say they will digitise these documents making access easier. Once the documents are digitised, the original paper documents will be destroyed – the proposal is to retain these original copies for 25 years only. They estimate this will save storage costs currently estimated to be around £4.5m per annum. Although it is unclear exactly what costings have been done, including the costs around digitisation, digital storage and keeping up-to-date with technology changes.

However, they are proposing retaining some documents: the original wills of famous and historic figures would be exempted from destruction.

As a clarification point, the documents subject to destruction are not the registered copies of wills obtained from the Probate Search Service website. The original will may differ from these registered copies, importantly containing the original signatures of testator and witnesses. These, as family historians know, can provide an important comparator in identifying/proving signatures of the individuals in other records. Currently you are able to request – and should legally be supplied – the original will. It is these originals which are earmarked for destruction.

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What’s the problem?

Well, even from my initial read-through I can think of many.

Firstly, destroying key historic documents such as these is total madness. Once destroyed, that’s it. And the government has form here, even in recent years. Remember the destruction of the Windrush Landing Cards? If you read my post about that debacle, you can see echoes of that in these latest proposals. It can be found here.

Secondly, family historians are well aware of issues around digitisation. How many digitised documents have been incorrectly scanned, for example sections chopped off, failure to scan both sides, even missing out pages, or skipping complete sections. And on the subject of this in relation to wills, I’ve had the wrong soldiers’ will supplied because of a scanning issue. The reply I eventually got from HMCTS when, after months of emails and fobbing off, they finally acknowledged the problem, was:

… we are looking at rescanning the affected soldier’s wills and will correct yours in due time…

From this reply it appears mine was not a one-off issue. It seems multiple wills were affected by scanning problems. I did eventually get the correct will. But if the original document had been destroyed this would have been impossible.

Thirdly, and linked to this, there is the long-term viability of digital documents and new technology. Their preservation and longevity is a whole new can of worms. Remember floppy disks? Betamax and VHS? Anyone bought a new laptop of late, with a CD DVD drive? Will USB ports and sticks be consistent? What about deterioration of digital documents? Digital preservation is not one-off and cost-free. And what about cyber attack? The British Library is still suffering major technology outages weeks after they fell victim to one, and anticipate disruption to some services will last for several months to come.

The MoJ is clearly aware of the possible pitfalls of the digitisation process, and potential survival implications of this technology, as evidenced by their proposals around the retention of original wills of the famous. If the technology is so wonderful, why propose this exemption? Is this more around the furore which would ensue if it came to light these particular high-profile documents were incorrectly digitised, or there was a later digital failure, and then all was lost because they had destroyed the originals?

Which leads me onto my fourth point, and one of my major bugbears. My family history is devoid of the rich and famous. But the lives of my ancestors mean more to me than those categorised as such. The majority of people being researched by many family historians will also fall outside this famous category – whatever the eventual criteria for this is, as the MoJ have still to set it. I would argue history – local, social and family – is for many more about the lives of ordinary people, than the rich and famous. From an individual family history basis, to broader social history, local history or one-place studies, wills are an integral building block. It is this history which is more relatable to ordinary people. It is this history which adds richness and colour and context. But the MoJ are only focused on those deemed famous. Their proposals infer the wills of everyday people do not matter. It also ignores the fact that history evolves. Someone not deemed famous when they died, or even 25 years after probate, could – as history is reevaluated – suddenly be recognised as extremely historically valuable. But by then it is too late to retain their original will.

Final point, if one of MoJ’s selling points for this change is the benefit to historians and family history researchers, I would be interested to know why the MoJ, in their key list of 22 bodies being sent a copy of the consultation, fails to include the Society of Genealogists, the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives, the Family History Federation or the Register of Qualified Genealogists.

That being said, they do say responses are welcomed from anyone with an interest in or views on the subject covered by their paper. The full document is here.

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I would urge anyone who values history and family history to respond to the consultation, which closes on 23 February 2024. The address for consultation responses is:

Will Storage consultation  
Ministry of Justice  
Civil Justice and Law Division,  
Postpoint 5.25  
102 Petty France  
London 
SW1H 9AJ 

Email: civil_justice_poli@justice.gov.uk