Set it up for Mum and Dad. They only fill in the gaps.
You are probably the one who will be asked to find everything. So do the setting-up part now, while there is no rush: build the list, and leave your parents a short set of blanks to fill in over a cup of tea.
This is general information about getting organised, not tax or financial advice — speak to a regulated adviser.
The part nobody warns you about
The first job is not the will. It is the search.
Which bank. Which pension. Which insurer. Which direct debits are still going out.
A will says who inherits. It does not say where anything is.
That is the gap almost every family runs into. The will names the executor and the beneficiaries, and then goes quiet on the practical questions: which building society holds the savings, whether there is an old workplace pension nobody mentioned, where the title deeds are, who the solicitor was. None of that is in the will, and none of it is anywhere else either — unless someone wrote it down.
Old advice: “it is all in the file.” What is actually true: there is no file.
The paperwork is usually spread across a drawer, an email inbox, a shoebox and a memory. Each provider has to be found, then contacted, then evidenced. It is not hard work. It is just a lot of it, arriving in the weeks when you have the least to give.
The record is the thing that shortens it.
Around six in ten UK adults have not written a will (IRN Research, 2025), and the ones who do rarely leave a map to go with it. Settling an estate typically takes 9–12 months from death to final distribution — an industry estimate, not an official figure. Most of that is waiting. The part you can shorten is the searching, and you can shorten it now.
How to do it for them
Four steps, and only one of them needs your parents
You can do the research. They confirm the handful of things only they know.
Start with the list, not the paperwork
One page: every bank, pension, insurer, lender and provider you can name. A year of statements and a fortnight of post will give you most of it. Do not chase policy numbers yet — names first.
Ask three questions, not thirty
Where is the signed original will kept? Is there a Lasting Power of Attorney, and where? Who is the solicitor, accountant or adviser? Those are the answers only your parents have. Everything else can wait.
Leave the blanks visible
Hand them a half-finished list rather than an empty form. Filling in nine gaps is a job people finish on a Sunday. Starting from nothing is a job people put off for a decade.
Tell one other person it exists
A record nobody can find helps nobody. Say where it is, and say it to at least two people — the executor and one other. That single conversation is what turns a good intention into something that actually works.
What goes in the record
The six things to write down for a parent
Adapted from the free Beqst checklist. Record where things are kept, not just that they exist — “will held at Smith & Co Solicitors, Leeds” is worth ten times “there is a will”.
Who they are
- Full legal name, and any former or maiden names
- Date of birth, National Insurance number, NHS number
- Where the birth and marriage certificates are kept
- Passport and driving licence — numbers, and where they live
Will and legal
- Where the signed original will is kept, and the date on it
- The solicitor or will-writer, with a phone number
- Who the executors are, and whether they know
- Lasting Power of Attorney — property and financial, health and welfare
Money
- Banks and building societies — provider and account type
- ISAs, investments and shareholdings, with the platform name
- Every pension, including old workplace pots, and the nomination on file
- Life insurance, and whether it is written in trust
- Mortgage, loans, credit cards — what is owed and to whom
Property and belongings
- The address, and how it is owned — sole, joint tenants, tenants in common
- Where the title deeds or Land Registry details are kept
- Buildings and contents insurer, with the policy number
- Safe, safe deposit box or storage unit — and how to get into it
Digital life
- The primary email address — it is the key to nearly everything else
- Which accounts exist, and the email or username each one uses
- Where the passwords are kept: never write passwords or full account numbers on paper or in the will — keep them in a password manager or an encrypted safe, and note where
- Subscriptions and direct debits that will keep taking money
Wishes and people
- Burial or cremation, and any pre-paid funeral plan
- Music, readings, flowers or donations — anything they would want
- Key contacts: executor, solicitor, accountant, adviser, employer
- Anything they would like said, or definitely would not
Free checklist
Start with the checklist
Add your email and we will send it straight over — a clean PDF to print, fill in, or hand to a parent. Free, and it stays free. We will send occasional, genuinely useful updates too (no spam, unsubscribe anytime).
Kept safe
Your parents’ details, properly protected
This record holds some of the most sensitive information a family has. If you keep it in Beqst, passwords and other selected high-risk details are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they are stored, and you decide exactly what an executor can see after you die.
Related reading
Plain-English guides for the family organiser
The admin this record is designed to spare you.