Form PA13 UK: Report a Lost Will for Probate

At a glance

• What Form PA13 is for: telling HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) that the original signed will cannot be found, so a copy or reconstruction can be considered for probate instead.
• Who can use it: only people representing themselves (litigants in person), and only where the will has not actually been revoked. If a solicitor or other probate professional is running the application, PA13 is not used — they support the same request with an affidavit or statement of truth instead.
• The legal hurdle: under section 20 of the Wills Act 1837, if a will was last known to be in the testator's own possession and cannot be found after death, there is a rebuttable presumption that they destroyed it themselves, intending to revoke it.
• The order you're working towards: rule 54 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 — an order from a district judge or registrar admitting a copy or reconstruction of the will to proof, supported by an affidavit or (since a November 2020 rule change) a witness statement.
• Where to send it: HMCTS Probate, PO Box 12625, Harlow, CM20 9QE, with your probate application, or separately if the registry asks for it once your application is under review.
• Fee: there is no separate charge for PA13, but the standard probate application fee still applies — from 13 July 2026 this is £526 for estates worth more than £5,000, and nil for estates worth £5,000 or less. Check GOV.UK for the current rate before you apply.
• If the registry isn't satisfied: the application to prove the copy fails, and the estate is administered as though there is no will (intestacy).

What Form PA13 is — and who should (and shouldn't) use it

Form PA13, sometimes called the lost will questionnaire, is published by HMCTS as part of the collection of probate forms. GOV.UK guidance sets out three typical situations where an executor might need it: you cannot find the original will but have a photocopy of it; you sent the original by post and the courier or postal service lost it; or you have found out that a solicitor mislaid the original.

The form sits alongside your main probate application, not in place of it — you send PA13 in with your application, or separately if the registry asks for it after reviewing a copy will you have already submitted.

PA13 is only for litigants in person, and only where the will has not been revoked. GOV.UK's guidance is explicit on both points: use the form only if you are representing yourself and the will has not been revoked. In other words, PA13 exists to prove that a will still exists and what it said, despite the original being unavailable — it is not the route to take if you already accept the will was validly revoked (for example, by a later will). If you are a probate practitioner acting for the estate, you do not complete this form at all. Instead, you provide an affidavit or statement of truth, with exhibits, to lead directly to a rule 54 order under the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 (NCPR 1987). If a solicitor is helping you privately but you remain the applicant, check with them which route applies in your case.

The legal presumption you need to address: revocation by destruction

Section 20 of the Wills Act 1837 sets out the only ways a will can be validly revoked: by a later will or codicil, by a signed and witnessed written declaration of revocation, or "by the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator… with the intention of revoking the same." Destruction without that intention — an accidental fire, a will lost in a house move — does not revoke anything. Both the act of destruction and the intention to revoke have to be present.

Where a will was last known to be in the testator's own possession and cannot be found after their death, the courts apply a rebuttable presumption that the testator destroyed it deliberately. This is a common-law evidential presumption, not a rule written into the 1837 Act itself, and it is not automatic or unbeatable — it exists to fill the evidential gap left by the missing document, and it gives way to sufficient evidence pointing the other way.

The leading authority is Sugden v Lord St Leonards (1876) 1 PD 154, which confirms two points that still shape how these cases are handled: first, that the contents of a lost will can be proved by secondary evidence, including the testator's own written or spoken statements about what the will said, made before or after they signed it; and second, that the strength of the presumption of revocation varies with how closely the testator kept the will in their own custody. A will last seen in a solicitor's strongroom, for example, sits differently to one last seen in the testator's own desk drawer. Declarations by the testator that they still intended the will to stand are admissible to help rebut the presumption.

A related point worth knowing: section 19 of the Wills Act 1837 makes clear that a will is never revoked merely by a change in the testator's circumstances — for example, moving house or falling out with a beneficiary. Revocation by destruction under section 20 is a distinct legal act, requiring both the physical destruction and the intention; a missing will does not, by itself, prove either.

Rule 54 NCPR 1987: the order that lets a copy or reconstruction stand in for the original

The mechanism the Probate Registry actually uses is rule 54 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. It allows an application, made to a district judge or registrar, for an order admitting to proof "a will contained in a copy or reconstruction thereof where the original is not available" (the same rule also covers nuncupative — spoken — wills in the rare cases where they are valid, and a separate provision in rule 54(2) allows a duly authenticated copy to be admitted without a court order where the original is retained by a foreign court or official).

Under rule 54(3), the application must be supported by an affidavit, or — following a 2020 amendment — a witness statement, giving whatever evidence the applicant can provide of:

• the will's existence after the testator's death, or, where there is no such evidence, the facts relied on to rebut the presumption that it was revoked by destruction;
• the contents of the will, where it was a nuncupative (spoken) will; and
• the accuracy of the copy, where a reconstruction is being relied on.

Rule 54(4) gives the registrar or district judge power to ask for additional evidence about due execution or the accuracy of the copy, and to direct that notice of the application be given to anyone who would be prejudiced by it — a beneficiary under an earlier will, or a person who would inherit under the intestacy rules if this will is not proved, for example. This is the same concern behind question 14 on Form PA13, which asks whether anyone is prejudiced by the will being proved.

Rule 54 was last checked against the general update to the Non-Contentious Probate Rules — the Non-Contentious Probate (Amendment) Rules 2025, in force from 3 November 2025 — which amended several other rules (including how disputes between equally-entitled administrators are resolved, and the online-portal requirements for trust corporations) but left rule 54 itself untouched.

What Form PA13 actually asks: a question-by-question walkthrough

The current form (HMCTS reference PA13, dated April 2021 and most recently reissued on GOV.UK in August 2025, when a large-print version was added) runs to 16 numbered questions plus a signed declaration. Every answer feeds directly into the rule 54(3) evidence described above, so treat each one as evidence, not paperwork:

1. The deceased's full name.
2. Your full name and address as the person completing the form.
3. Whether the original will has been seen since the date of death. Answer "No" and the form itself warns that there is a strong presumption the original was destroyed by the deceased during their lifetime — you are then asked to explain, in as much detail as possible, why you believe that is not what happened, including anyone else who could give evidence to support that.
4. The date the original will was last seen.
5. Who held the original will after it was signed.
6. Where the original was held — for example with a solicitor, bank or insurance company. If the will was seen after the date of death, HMCTS asks for a letter from a probate practitioner confirming that, or a copy of a receipt for the original.
7. What enquiries you have made as to the will's whereabouts.
8. Whether the original was lost in the post — if so, evidence of posting and any enquiries made with the postal service to trace it.
9. When and how you obtained the copy of the will you sent with your probate application.
10. What other searches have been made to trace the original — a thorough search of the deceased's home and papers is the standard HMCTS expects.
11. Whether the will's witnesses are available to give evidence if required.
12. Whether anyone else was present when the will was signed.
13. Whether the deceased left any other written wishes or earlier wills (copies must be attached if so).
14. Whether anyone is prejudiced by the will being proved — meaning anyone who would inherit under an earlier will or under intestacy if this will is not admitted. HMCTS's own guidance flags that further information, and notice to or consent from prejudiced persons, may be needed here.
15. The date of the will and of any codicils that are lost — a missing codicil is covered by the same form, not a separate one.
16. A free-text box for anything else relevant, followed by the declaration.

You then sign a declaration confirming the information is correct, with an explicit warning that proceedings for contempt of court can follow if the evidence given is deliberately untruthful or dishonest, and confirmation that the form is stored as a public record. A typed or handwritten signature is accepted.

How to submit Form PA13

1. Download the form from GOV.UK and fill in every section — leave nothing blank that applies to your circumstances.
2. Print, sign and date the application (a typed or handwritten signature is accepted).
3. Send the completed form, together with the copy or draft of the will you are relying on and any supporting evidence, to HMCTS Probate, PO Box 12625, Harlow, CM20 9QE.
4. If you need help completing the form, the probate helpline can be contacted on 0300 303 0648, Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm (closed weekends and bank holidays) — check GOV.UK for current opening hours before calling.

What happens next — and what if it doesn't succeed

HMCTS reviews the evidence in your PA13 alongside your probate application. In more complex cases, or where someone is prejudiced by the will being proved, the registry may come back for further information, additional affidavit or witness-statement evidence, or evidence from the will's witnesses.

If the application is successful, the copy or reconstruction is admitted to proof under the rule 54 order, and probate proceeds on that basis. If it is not successful — because the presumption of revocation was not rebutted, or the rule 54 evidence otherwise fell short — you will need to apply for probate on the basis that there is no valid will, meaning the estate is distributed under the intestacy rules rather than according to the terms of the lost will.

If the original will turns up later

If the original will is found after you have submitted PA13 but before a grant of probate has been issued, tell the Probate Registry immediately and send in the original — it takes priority over the copy and your application should proceed on that basis instead. If a grant has already been issued on the strength of a copy and the original then turns up, the position is more complicated: an existing grant is not automatically set aside, and the right next step depends heavily on what the original will actually says. Take advice before doing anything further in that situation.

Worked example one: Grace's lost will

Grace is named executor for her late uncle, who kept his own paperwork at home and was not known to have used a solicitor for his will. After his death, Grace cannot find the signed original anywhere in the house, despite a thorough search of his desk, filing cabinet and safe. She does have a photocopy, given to her by her uncle several years earlier "in case anything happens to the original."

Because the will was last known to be in her uncle's own possession, and it has not been seen since his death, the presumption under section 20 of the Wills Act 1837 applies from the outset — Grace has to address it, not ignore it. On Form PA13 she sets out: the date she believes the will was last seen, the fact her uncle kept it in a locked drawer, the searches she has carried out, and — crucially — evidence that rebuts the presumption. In this case, a friend who visited her uncle two months before he died recalls him mentioning "the will is still in the drawer, don't worry," and a solicitor's letter from years earlier confirms he never asked for it back after a will-writing appointment that did not proceed. Grace includes both as supporting evidence, along with the photocopy and details of when she obtained it.

This does not guarantee the application succeeds — that is for the registrar to weigh under rule 54 — but it gives HMCTS a genuine evidential basis to consider rebutting the presumption, rather than a bare assertion that "he wouldn't have destroyed it."

Worked example two: the mislaid solicitor's will

David is executor for his aunt, who had her will professionally drawn up and stored by a local firm of solicitors. When David contacts the firm after her death, they cannot locate the original — the retiring senior partner's files were only partially transferred when the practice merged with a larger firm some years earlier. The firm can, however, provide David with a certified copy of the will taken from their file at the time it was drawn up, together with a letter confirming they held the original in their strongroom and have no record of it ever being returned to his aunt.

On Form PA13, David explains that the will was last held by the solicitors' firm, not by his aunt personally — because the will was never back in the testator's own custody after signing, the presumption that she destroyed it herself is much weaker on the sliding-scale approach set out in Sugden v Lord St Leonards. He supports this with the searches made at the firm, the certified copy, and the solicitors' explanatory letter. This is the "solicitor mislaid the original" scenario GOV.UK's own guidance specifically anticipates, and it typically presents a more straightforward case than a will last held by the deceased personally, though the registrar's decision still turns on the overall evidence.

Practical steps for executors facing a lost will

1. Gather everything you know about the will before you start the form. Copies, drafts, correspondence about where it was kept, and statements from anyone who saw or held it will shape every answer you give.
2. Search systematically, and keep a record of what you searched. The deceased's home, papers, any safe deposit box, and — if the will may have been professionally drawn up — the solicitor's firm that prepared it (firms sometimes merge or close, so allow time to trace them).
3. Consider a national will register search. Some executors also check a national will register service to see whether a solicitor registered the will's existence and location, which can help confirm where it was last held.
4. Address the presumption directly, not by implication. If the will was last held by the deceased personally, explain specifically why you believe they did not destroy it on purpose — recent references to the will, its known location, or circumstances suggesting accidental loss all help.
5. Submit PA13 with your probate application, together with the copy or draft you are relying on and any supporting statements, and be ready for the registry to ask for an affidavit or witness statement addressing due execution or the accuracy of the copy.
6. Take advice early if the estate is contested, high value, or the evidence is thin. The quality of the evidence you can put before HMCTS is what decides whether the presumption is rebutted — a legal adviser can help you think through what is worth gathering before you submit, and see our guide on depositing a will with the Probate Service for how to avoid this problem for wills you make now. If another party disputes the will altogether rather than just its evidential proof, see our guide on contesting a will.

This guide provides general information about reporting a lost will to support a probate application in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law and HMCTS process described were accurate as at August 2026 and are subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

Last reviewed: August 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: August 2027 or on legislative change.