Ministry of Justice proposals to make access to original wills easier, but also to destroy those wills after digitising.
On the 15 December 2023 the Ministry of Justice published a consultation paper on the ‘Storage and Retention of Original Wills Documents, the paper can be accessed online here. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/storage-and-retention-of-original-will-documents
Although easier access to Original Wills is welcomed it should not be at the expense of the destruction of the original documents, and with that in mind we are urging the Genealogy, Family History and House Historians Community to respond to this consultation paper by the closing date of 23 February 2024.
Family Heritage Search urges the Ministry of Justice to consult widely and listen to the concerns of Historians and Researchers who have raised serious concerns regarding the proposals. Family Heritage Search does not agree with the proposed destruction of the Original Wills once they have been digitised.
Digitisation may provide access easier and prevent further dame to these documents, but Digitisation in not Preservation.
The Wills themselves are of legal and historic interest and should be preserved as such. A surrogate copy is just that, and while conceding that preserving digital records is complex and costly, most archivists and historians would point out that a digital file is not the same as a physical item – they are not interchangeable. It has been suggested that “Once they are digitised, they last forever.” NO THEY DO NOT. Digitisation does NOT guarantee the record is preserved for ever. There many examples where digital and archival projects have proved to have been badly completed, floundered or disappeared, to risk the destruction of the original documents is unacceptable.
Family Heritage Search urges genealogists to respond to this consultation which can be done either via email or letter, it either circumstances I would suggest copying in you local MP.
Email to: civil_justice_poli@justice.gov.uk
Write to:
Will Storage consultation
Ministry of Justice
Postpoint 5.25
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ