Recording the existence of a will

[Teresa C]

I'm curious to know how others record whether a person left a will.
Up until now, I have created a source item for each will, and then cited it where relevant in the Notes field.
But today when I wanted to check whose will I had a copy of (so I could start systematically searching for those I do not have), I realised that I have no easy way of creating such a list.

A couple of options came to mind, such as create a Will "fact", or maybe a Will "flag".
But I would be interested to know what others do - what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for any insights :-)
Teresa

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Recording the existence of a will

I'm curious to know how others record whether a person left a will.

I don't do this, but wish I had done so when I started out

I would use events:
[1] will signed
[2] codicil signed
[3] will submitted for probate
[4] letters of administration granted

with associated dates.

etc.

[Teresa C]

Re: Recording the existence of a will

Hi Dennis,

I hadn't thought of making it an event.....but that's an excellent idea :-). would certainly make it very easy to report on.
Thanks for your suggestion!

Cheers,
Teresa

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Recording the existence of a will

I hadn't thought of making it an event.....but that's an excellent idea :-). would certainly make it very easy to report on.

Thanks. I think it would particularly useful in instances where we don't have an actual death date, but we know it must be between the date the will was signed and the date the will was probated.

I've been using a "between" date for the death, but having the will dates as separate events is more straightforward.