Where there's a will, there's a government website

Picture the scene: it’s Saturday morning and the independent examiner for your church’s accounts is due at 2pm. As usual you’ve left everything to the last minute, and as you hastily apply the last few corrections, you check your notes…

Dammit. About a quarter of the balance sheet is a substantial legacy from a church member’s will. And the examiner told you a month ago that he wants to see the wording in the will to make sure there were no restrictions attached to the money. Fair enough, and you did ask someone for it at the time the money arrived … but, what’s this? Someone never got back to you, despite promising, and they’re now eight time zones away and unreachable.

You’re screwed, right?

Wrong! As it turns out, there is a government website where, armed with the person’s name and year of death, you can fork over £1.50 and download a PDF of the will (and the probate grant, if you care about that).

Said website has a slightly confusing user experience and seems far more keen on guiding you to download the receipt for your £1.50, but if you dig deep enough, you find the documents you actually paid for.

Well done to uk.gov, it’s almost like living in the future.