At SA Estate and Succession Lawyers we have been successful in obtaining Grants of Probate on copy Wills when original Wills cannot be found. It is a trickier application and a bigger job than a straight probate application so you should obtain advice early on. SA Estate and Succession Lawyers offer a free 15 minute consultation by phone or video to discuss all things estates and estate planning.
Generally, to get a grant of Probate on a copy of the original Will you have to provide evidence to the Court about why the original Will cannot be produced. The Court sets a high standard for this additional evidence as the law assumes that if there is no original Will that the testator may have intentionally destroyed the Will with a view to it no longer applying.
The sort of evidence you will need to produce will likely track the Will from when it was executed to the point at which it was lost. Often it is a case of moving house or simple confusion. We’ve even seen situations where the deceased threw out the original Will thinking it was the copy and kept the copy thinking it was the original. We’ve even seen situations where law firms have lost the original and we have been able to rely upon an office copy of the original. If you can’t find the original Will, be sure to get some advice from before proceeding with any application for Probate.