Digitization of Wills UK

The UK Ministry of Justice has just released their plan to digitize historic wills.

Their statement reads :

"Genealogists, historians and amateur family archivists will be better able to access historic wills under proposals published today (15 December 2023).

The ambitious digitization programme could see millions of wills dating back more than 150 years moved online and more easily accessible to the public in a bid to improve the current storage system.  

Currently about 110 million physical documents are stored costing taxpayers £4.5 million per year. The consultation is seeking views on keeping hard copies for about 25 years, in recognition of their sentimental value to families, while saving them digitally longer term."

This plan has immediately stirred up a storm of controversy amongst Genealogists.  While it is agreed that digitizing the wills and making them more accessible is a boon to the Genealogical and Historical communities, the idea of destroying the hard copies of wills after 25 years is considerably less popular.

There have been a number of questions regarding the proposal.  How much will it cost to maintain the digital records? Things like the servers, the regular migration to modern formats to ensure they remain accessible etc? Digital is not 'free'.

The consultation will end on 23 February 2024.  So follow the link and have your say about the future of these important historical records.