To get a copy of a deceased person’s will, go to the probate court in the county where the person lived at the time of death and ask the clerk for the file. Once a will has been submitted for probate, it becomes part of the public court record, and almost anyone can request a copy. If the will has not been filed with the court yet, the copy doesn’t exist in any public place, and finding it means tracking down the original through the deceased’s home, attorney, bank, or a will registry.
Getting a Copy From the Probate Court
Probate cases are handled by the court in the county where the deceased lived when they died. The court’s name depends on the state. You may see it called Probate Court, Surrogate’s Court, or Orphan’s Court. Searching the county name plus “probate court” will usually point you to the right office.
To pull the file, the clerk needs the deceased person’s full legal name. The date of death helps, especially with a common name. The executor’s name or the approximate filing date speeds things up but isn’t required.
Searching Online
Many probate courts run searchable online databases you can use to look up a case by the deceased’s name. Some systems show scanned copies of the will and other filed documents. Others show only case summaries and docket entries, and you have to request the documents themselves separately. There is no single national database. You go directly to the county court’s website or records portal. A few states run a statewide system covering multiple counties, but in most places you search county by county.
Requesting Copies in Person or by Mail
When online access is limited, contact the probate court clerk’s office directly. Give the clerk the deceased’s full name and date of death and ask them to pull the probate file. Once they locate the case, you can request a photocopy of the will.
Courts charge for copies, typically around $1 to $6 per page depending on the jurisdiction. Some also charge a search fee if staff have to look up the case. In person, copies may be ready the same day. By mail, send a written request with the identifying information and a check or money order for the estimated fees, and the clerk will send the copies back.
Certified Copies vs. Regular Copies
A regular photocopy is fine for reading the will and understanding what it says. If you need to actually do something with it — transfer property, collect life insurance, close a bank account, deal with real estate — you will almost certainly need a certified copy. A certified copy is a photocopy stamped and signed by the court clerk confirming it matches the original on file.
Banks, insurance companies, title companies, and investment firms routinely require certified copies before acting on an estate matter. Plan on ordering several, because institutions won’t share and each wants its own. The certification fee is usually a few dollars per document on top of the per-page copying charge. Ordering multiple certified copies at once saves repeat trips to the courthouse.
When the Will Hasn’t Been Filed Yet
A will doesn’t automatically appear at the courthouse when someone dies. Someone has to find it and file it. If probate hasn’t started, the public record won’t help you, and the search moves to the places the deceased actually kept the document.
Start with the obvious spots: home office, filing cabinets, fireproof safes, and anywhere else the deceased kept important papers. Wills are often stored alongside insurance policies, deeds, and other financial documents.
The deceased’s attorney is one of the best leads. Estate planning lawyers routinely keep original wills or copies in an office vault. If you don’t know who drafted it, look through the deceased’s financial records for payments to a law firm, or ask family members. A financial advisor or accountant may also know which attorney handled the estate planning.
A bank safe deposit box is another common location, and it creates an access problem after death. Banks typically freeze a box when they learn the owner has died. Many states allow limited, bank-supervised access specifically to search for a will or burial instructions. You will generally need a death certificate and valid identification. The bank will usually let you remove the will itself but nothing else from the box until a personal representative has been formally appointed by the court.
A handful of states let people deposit their will directly with the local probate court during their lifetime. If the deceased lived in one of those states, call the court to ask whether a will is on file. Private will registries also exist. The U.S. Will Registry, for example, maintains a database where attorneys and individuals can register the location of a will. A search requires the deceased’s name, date of birth, and state of residence, plus a death certificate to access the results.
Electronic Wills
A growing number of states now recognize wills created and signed electronically. The Uniform Electronic Wills Act has been adopted in roughly a dozen jurisdictions, including Colorado, Utah, Washington, North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, and Oklahoma. Most states still require paper wills.
If you think the deceased may have created an electronic will, check their email, cloud storage accounts, and any online estate planning service they used. In states that recognize them, the document must generally bear the testator’s electronic signature and be witnessed or notarized contemporaneously, following the same formality rules as a paper will in digital form.
If the Original Will Is Lost
When the original can’t be found, the deceased’s wishes can still be recognized, but proving them gets much harder. Courts in most states apply a legal presumption that if a will was last known to be in the testator’s possession and can’t be found after death, the testator destroyed it on purpose to revoke it. Overcoming that presumption is the central challenge.
The Uniform Probate Code allows a petition to probate a lost will, but the petitioner has to state the contents and explain that the original is lost, destroyed, or otherwise unavailable. A photocopy or draft helps enormously. Some states require only one witness to confirm that a copy matches the original. Without any copy, witnesses who can testify to the will’s terms from memory become essential, and courts scrutinize that testimony carefully.
If you believe a will existed but can’t locate the original, gather what you can: photocopies, emails discussing its contents, the drafting attorney’s file notes, and statements from anyone who saw or read the document. Then talk to a probate attorney. Lost-will proceedings involve formal hearings and a higher burden of proof than standard probate.
If No Will Ever Existed
Sometimes the search turns up nothing because there is nothing to find. When someone dies without a valid will, the estate passes under the state’s intestacy laws, a default set of rules that distributes assets based on family relationships. A surviving spouse and children typically inherit first. If there’s no spouse or children, the estate goes to parents, siblings, and then more distant relatives in a set order. A court-appointed administrator handles the estate in place of an executor.
If you have exhausted the reasonable avenues — the home, the attorney, safe deposit boxes, the probate court, will registries — and still find nothing, the estate will likely proceed through intestacy, and there is no copy to obtain because there is no will.
If You Find a Will, You Have to File It
If your search turns up the original will, you are legally required to turn it over. Every state imposes some version of this duty. The Uniform Probate Code, adopted in whole or part by most states, requires anyone holding a deceased person’s will to deliver it “with reasonable promptness” to a person who can submit it for probate or, if no such person is known, directly to the appropriate court. Most states set a specific deadline, commonly 30 to 90 days after learning of the death.
This isn’t a technicality. Someone who deliberately withholds or conceals a will can be held civilly liable for damages to beneficiaries who lose their inheritance, and courts can hold a person in contempt for refusing to hand over a will after being ordered to do so. In some states, concealing a will for financial gain is a crime.