Release of Original Documents

In line with our continuing commitment to our clients we are pleased to offer a secure Will and document storage facility*. On this page, we detail how you can request for original documents to be released.

Your Will

You may retrieve your Will from us at any point. To do so, please send a letter or print and complete the attached Form of Authority (we do not accept email requests) formally requesting the Will(s) be returned, with the following information to: Administration Team, Band Hatton Button, Earlsdon Park, 53-55 Butts Road, Coventry, CV1 3BH:

Your full name, postal address, contact telephone number and email address
Whether the Will was initially made and stored with one of our legacy firms, and if so, which one (see list below)
Original or certified copy proof of your address, such as a utility bill, council tax bill, bank statement etc, confirming your name and address, dated within the last three months
Certified copy photo ID e.g. passport or driving licence. For more information on certifying copy documents, click here.

You will then need to make an appointment to collect the documentation – please contact our Administration team once they have had chance to process your request on 024 7663 2121 or email: admin@bandhattonbutton.com (please don’t attend our office unannounced as the documentation may not be on-site). Alternatively, we can post your Will out to you via Royal Mail, and this will be done within 15 working days**.

If you wish to review or amend your Will, please contact our Wills, Trusts and Probate support team on 024 7663 2121 to make an appointment.

If you are an Executor

Executors can request an original Will from us upon death. We will need:

The Registrar’s copy of the Death Certificate
Authority requesting release of the original Will signed by all Executors named in the Will (we have a form that you can use for this purpose which is available on request)
Evidence of identity for all Executors (i.e. Passport or Driving Licence together with a Bank Statement or Utility Bill no more than 3 months old).

You may use the attached form which should be completed then signed by all Executors and returned to us, as detailed.

We should draw to your attention that the role of Executor carries a great deal of responsibility as well as personal liability in relation to reporting matters to the relevant authorities including HM Revenue and Customs and any creditors that the deceased owed money to.

If an Executor has died then we will need sight of their death certificate. If you do not have the death certificate then you can apply to the General Register Office for a copy. The website for this service is http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ or from the appropriate local Register Office (i.e. the one where the death was actually registered). This only applies if the person died in the UK.

Title Deeds

If you wish to retrieve original Title Deeds* you will need to follow exactly the same process as for a Will above (see sections re whether they are your Deeds, or you are acting as an Executor).

Legacy firms

Whether you have written your Will with one of our lawyers or with one of our legacy firms (as below), your will is stored securely with us. The legacy firms include:

Band Hatton
Button Legal
Button & Co
Varley Hibbs
Richardson & Davies

* Please note that the majority of original Wills are held in our onsite Will cabinets, whereas many of our Title Deeds are held in offsite storage and will need to be retrieved in advance.

**We will need you to sign a receipt to confirm that you have taken away an original if collected, or acknowledge safe receipt if we post original documents out to you.