How to check for the existence of a will

Hello. I am Tatsuo Kino, an attorney at Takarazuka Hananomichi Law Office.

When providing legal consultations,

I often receive inquiries like this.

In this article, I will write about how to check for the existence of a will.

The main types of wills are holographic wills and notarized wills. (*The terminology is a bit difficult, but if you click on the underlined parts, you will find explanations on our office's website, so please take a look if you like. We also explain the pros and cons of each type of will.)

First, regarding notarized wills, information on notarized wills created at notary offices nationwide since 1989 is managed online by the Japan Notaries Association. Therefore, you can search for the existence of a notarized will and the notary office where it is stored at any notary office in the country.

Once it is determined that a notarized will exists and you know which notary office holds it, you can request a certified copy of the will from that notary office (note that you can also view the original).

However, only interested parties such as heirs can request a search, and while the testator is alive, only the testator themselves can request a search.

Next is the holographic will, but if the testator has used the holographic will storage system, then after the testator's death, heirs and others can find out about the existence of the will by inquiring at the Legal Affairs Bureau (issuance of a certificate of will storage facts). If it is found that a will is stored, you can also check the contents of the will (via viewing the will or issuance of a will information certificate).

However, if a holographic will was created but the holographic will storage system was not used, it is not easy to confirm the existence of a will. For example, you might search the house, ask close acquaintances, or open a safe deposit box if there is a contract for one, but none of these methods are guaranteed to be effective.

To prevent the situation where no one knows whether a will exists after you pass away, when creating a will, I recommend creating it as a notarized will or using the holographic will storage system.

Thank you for reading to the end.

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