Insuristic is the first insurance broker in the UK to offer Missing Will Insurance quotes online to both personal representatives (executors or administrators) and solicitors.
Missing Will Insurance provides cover should another Will be discovered after the estate has been distributed. It provides cover up to the level of indemnity you have chosen and provides cover for:
Claims following the discovery of another Will can happen anytime in the future, and they can be significant, particularly if it contains differing beneficiaries and shares of inheritance.
As the executor (if there is a Will) or Administrator (no Will), referred to as personal representatives from now on, you must ensure the probate is applied for on the correct basis, and using the most recent Will. If you think the deceased didn’t make a Will and the estate is therefore intestate, you must make best endeavours to ensure that this is the case.
The discovery of a Will in either scenario that wasn't considered prior to the estate's distribution leaves you legally liable, exposing you to the financial risk of defending the claim and settling with successful claimants.
If the personal representatives don’t have the funds, after they have used all their cash and disposed of assets, the beneficiaries can then be drawn into the claim and asked to repay some or all of their inheritance towards the remaining settlement.
So, whether there is a valid Will or not, it is important to consider Missing Will Insurance. One policy, arranged in 2 minutes (after some important risk management steps explained below), will protect all personal representatives and beneficiaries from a claim arising from the discovery of another Will forever. There is no excess to pay either; if a claim comes in, the insurer handles everything so the personal representatives and beneficiaries can move on with their lives, with the comfort of insurance.
This page explains what you need to know. Use the contents menu to jump to the section you need.
Many people who land on this page are concerned about other risks and which policies they might need.
If you're not sure what you need, start with one of the guides below.
Each guide discusses the risks and the cover available, tailored to the estate's situation, and it usually helps to have a full view of your risks before starting a quote.
Missing Will Insurance is one cover most personal representatives should consider. Come back here when you're ready, or keep reading if you'd like to learn more about this cover
Prior to requesting a Missing Will Insurance quote, you need to complete the following steps:
The insurer will ask you to confirm this has been done when requesting a quote.
Please note:
Only the personal representatives can decide the level of indemnity, as you know the estate best. As a guide, work it out like this:
The policy does have some built-in protection against inflation, called the escalator clause.
It is an important policy extension as inflation will gradually increase the risk of underinsurance. To counter this, our policy automatically increases the indemnity by up to 5% compound each year, for the first 10 years of the policy, up to a maximum of 125% of the estate value.
We include an escalator clause as standard; some underwriters do not, so it is worth checking your quotes prior to purchase.
If in doubt, it is always better to over-insure. You can easily compare prices by quoting at different indemnity levels without rekeying information each time. That way, you can compare costs and consider the benefits of the chosen indemnity level.
The cost of Missing Will Insurance varies depending on the size of the estate and how the estate is being administered.
Provided there are no known issues, our cover starts from the following minimum premiums (including Insurance Premium Tax):
The premium differential represents the value of legal advice involved during the application and administration process.
For a relatively modest cost, the policy provides significant peace of mind forever, and has no excess to pay in the event of a claim.
Please note: if there are known issues, we may be able to help following a referral to the underwriter. As a starting point, disclose the issues during the quote journey. Your quote will refer, and we can start from there.
If another Will is discovered, the most important thing is to contact the insurer straight away. Their contact details are in your policy documents.
Remember:
Missing Will Insurance can be bought on its own, or combined with the other probate legal indemnity covers in a single quote.
For testate estates (where there is a Will) consider also including:
Missing Beneficiary Insurance isn't usually needed for testate estates, but it can be considered where the Will is ambiguous about who inherits, or a named beneficiary can't be traced
For intestate estates (where there is no Will), you should consider combining these policies along with Missing Beneficiary Insurance, which protects against the risk of a beneficiary being missed from distribution who later makes a claim. You can also arrange cover if a known beneficiary can't be found.
If you need to buy all 4 legal indemnity policies together, you will receive a 50% discount from the insurer.
Lastly, if there is still property in the estate, you should separately consider adequate probate property insurance to protect yourself from the risk of gaps in cover and underinsurance.
If the estate is intestate, you should consider the risk of Missing Beneficiary Insurance.
The cover is recommended to anyone acting as an executor or administrator (professional or non-professional).
The cover protects the personal liability of the executors, administrators and personal representatives of the estate. It also protects the beneficiaries should there be a successful claim, as they would not need to repay any of the money they have received.
Any executor or personal representative listed on the policy plus the beneficiaries mentioned in the will used as the basis of distributing the estate.
The benefits of missing will insurance include:
Protection from financial liability if a claim is made against the estate
Assurance that the beneficiaries of the estate receive their inheritance as intended
Peace of mind for the executors and beneficiaries of the estate
The risks of not having missing will insurance include:
Exposure to financial liability if a claim is made against the estate
The possibility that the beneficiaries of the estate may not receive their inheritance as intended
Stress and anxiety for the executors and beneficiaries of the estate
The cost of missing will insurance varies depending on the size of the estate, but it is typically a small price to pay for the peace of mind that it can provide.
The average cost of Missing Will Insurance is c£450.
An Escalator Clause can help you avoid under insurance as it increases the limit of indemnity by 5% each year from the inception of the policy.
Imagine if a missing will indemnity insurance claim was made against the estate 5 years after distribution and the Estate's value was £300,000. If the value of the Estate at the end of the 5 year was now worth £382,884 (based on a 5% growth each year), the administers would be liable for the shortfall of £82,884. This is because the Limit of Indemnity was set at £300,000.
If the Escalate Clause had been included for a small increase in premium at the outset, there would have been no additional liability as the Limit of Indemnity would have increased each year to cover the Estates increase in value.
As an executor or personal representative, it is your responsibility to ensure the estate and the beneficiaries are adequately insured.
You should be considering the following types of insurance (click the links to go to the relevant page):
Rob Faulkner is a leading expert in Probate Insurance, Probate Risk Management, Property Insurance (especially Unoccupied Home Insurance), with nearly 30 years’ experience in the UK insurance market. He is the founder of Insuristic, a specialist provider of probate-related insurance solutions and educational content for executors.
Rob is an ACII Chartered Insurance Broker, a Chartered Manager, and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. His background spans insurers, brokers, and Insurtechs, always focused on innovation, transparency, simplicity, and fair value.
Rob is passionate about product development and improving insurance education through marketing, helping people understand what they are buying. These values sit at the heart of everything we do at Insuristic.
His mission is to make Insurance smarter, easier to understand, and faster to buy. Particularly for the Probate market, where Rob has identified friction points and solved them for lay clients and solicitors alike.
Want to learn more? Visit my author page or follow me on LinkedIn.
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