Help with Wills.

[Benn2509]

Hello to you all, it’s been a while since my last post, but after spending some time yesterday on Ancestry looking for wills, and coming away empty handed, I think I need some help.
Firstly, are All wills online? Whether it be a reference to order one, or the actual will to see.
And where is the best place to view them? After seeing the price of wills has come down to just £1.50, I’m desperate to go down this route to hopefully solve a family mystery.
One name I’m searching for is John Johnson, date of death 4th January 1922, Manchester, uk. I couldn’t find any mention of him, so I’m hoping someone who knows what they are doing could help out?
I look forward to any replies.
Many thanks, Benn

[nanny jan]

The site for Wills:

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills      References needed to order.

Make sure that you click on the right year range (caught me out once or twice!)

Not everyone leaves a Will;  an entry in the Probate Calendar is sometimes a year or two after the death.

At the moment there is a long delay.....I'm still waiting on some ordered at the end of July!

[jc26red]

Only the national probate indexes are online.

If you can't find the person you are looking for then maybe they didn't leave a will. You might also want to search just for JOHNSON year 1922, the look at the image,  it's possible a transcription error has occurred. 

Note, some wills are proved years after the person died for a variety of reasons.

The index, at the timeframe you are looking at,  should provide enough information for you to decide if you have found the right person or not.

To order a will
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/

Be warned there is a huge backlog of orders due to the probate service lowering the cost.

Oops,  our posts crossed Jan,  sorry

[Ratty2]

I have a Will made in Birmingham by "Samuel Withers of Birmingham" in which he leaves his entire estate to "my nephew Edwin Withers,  Gentleman, of Birmingham."
Trouble is I can find nobody, not one, as a nephew,  only his Grandson born 1804 died 1888 in Birmingham.
The Probate reads "Proved at London 2 June 1834 before the Judge by the Oath of Edwin Withers the nephew and sole Executor ..."
How likely is it that Samuel the grandfather would mistake his Grandson for a none existing nephew? How legal would it be for a grandson to claim to be a nephew?
Samuels son, Edward Weston father of Edwin, was born 1762 abd died in 1819 in Birmingham.

[amondg]

How many brothers did Samuel Withers have?
One of them could have had a son Edwin which in turn would be Samuel's nephew.

[mckha489]

Edward Weston Withers had a brother Samuel.
Perhaps it is he whose will was probated in 1834, His  Nephew was the Edwin the son of Edward Weston Withers

(After all Edward Weston was baptised 1762, so his father Samuel would have been nearly 100 by 1834.)


This problem also here

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=804003.msg6882816#msg6882816

[amondg]

Good point Mckha489, I should have done the math.

[Claire64]

Findmypast has some will references but you go through the ordering system and pay for them.  I have found some free wills on Ancestry.
I've been using the will site at Gov.uk tonight but there are some glitches.  I was running a few searches for Crossley for various years, and sometimes when the results were shown they are a completely wrong letter of the alphabet, with no option to move to another letter.  So I resorted to the findmypast indexes.  I assume, as it's a beta site, they'll be ironing out these glitches.  I've ordered a few including some soldiers' wills, but I'm not holding my breath for a speedy delivery!

[rosie99]

I've been using the will site at Gov.uk tonight but there are some glitches.  I was running a few searches for Crossley for various years, and sometimes when the results were shown they are a completely wrong letter of the alphabet, with no option to move to another letter. 

I have found that sometimes on that site it is just the first page that is wrong and like you say does not even start with the same letter as you are searching.  I generally find you just need to click to the next page in the search results