Published: 06/26/2026By: Toby Jacob
There is no easy way to inquire about a will, and the sooner you do it, the more insensitive you seem. It is particularly difficult when you are grieving and still have arrangements to be made. Very few people are knowledgeable about the process of going through a will, and even fewer are knowledgeable about how to find it.
This lack of expertise is hard to blame on people. Wills are not particularly exciting topics, and discussing them in polite company may result in people giving you odd looks. This discomfort may be one of the reasons why only 24% of people currently have a written will in place.
To help lessen the awkwardness of finding a will and the mystery behind it, we will be going over a few ways to check. To answer the titular problem, “how do you find out if someone has a will?” read the following guide to learn every solution.
Ways to Find a Will
It can be hard enough to search a person online, much less hunt down their last will and testament. It is important to remember that your state and local laws must be followed when looking through a will, and it’s impolite to burden those in mourning with poorly timed questions. That being said, if you need to figure out if a person has a will, there are several routes to take.
These solutions can also answer other questions you may have, such as when they died, where they are buried, and more.
Reach Out to Their Lawyer
If you know who their attorney is, you are well ahead of the pack. Reach out to the attorney and inquire about the will. While they may not be able to tell you what is in the will, they can usually divulge whether or not it exists. Contrarily, if you are the executor of the will, they will more than likely give you full access to the document.
Be sure that you have a reliable form of identification, as some may request dual proof that you are who you say you are.
Ask Family and Friends
When reaching out to loved ones, it is best to be gentle and patient. If they are still grieving and you do not know them very well, it is best to wait until some time has passed. If you are in a situation that is time-sensitive, however, sometimes you have to be more blunt than you would like.
Reach out to people who knew the individual well, like best friends and colleagues, and see if they have any information. Often, people will confide in their close friends about things that their family may never know. For the more family-oriented, it is possible that they confided in a spouse, sibling, son or daughter, or relatives you know they are uniquely close to.
If you are on the fence about trying this method, consider looking through the other solutions before you start ringing up people who have been recently hit with tragic news.
Look Through Their Documents
If you have access to their personal items and files, you can look through them to see if there is a copy of their will. Obviously, you should only do this if you are the next of kin or legally allowed to look through their things. Start with obvious places such as file cabinets, desks, office spaces, and any boxes that may be hidden away in closets, etc.
Some people will have genuinely strange places where they store their items, and others may have preferred to store important documents in places only they know where to look. Common unconventional hiding spots include the fridge and freezer, underneath any mattresses (or in between), inside drawers, taped to the top of drawers, and even in storage facilities sometimes.
We can’t promise that you will find anything, but it is better to be thorough once than to skimp and wonder if you missed a spot later.
Check the U.S Will Registry
The U.S Will Registry is an incredible public resource that allows you to search and see if an individual has a will. The database allows people to access their will without having to jump through legal hoops, and is a great way for families to access information about a deceased loved one.
Only registered wills appear in the U.S registry, and there is no guarantee that the person you are locating has placed their will into the database.
Follow these steps to see if someone has a will on the U.S Will Registry:
- Search the person using their name, date of birth, and the state they lived in.
- Allow the search to look through its database.
- If you are listed in the will, the registry will give you basic information about its location.
- If your identity is confirmed and accepted, the will can be accessed.
While it may seem that this process is useless for people not listed in the will, it provides a useful service of determining whether the will exists or not. The registry will let you know if a last will and testament is assigned to the individual. This does not mean that you will have access to the information inside, or where to find a copy of it.
Search the Local Clerk of Court Database
If you are aware of where a person lived, consider going to the county or city clerk’s website. Some websites will not offer a database, though you should check ahead of time before driving down in person. After a person has passed, it is commonplace that the executor will begin submitting the necessary documents, which will then be entered into the county clerk’s website.
While you likely won’t be able to see the contents of the will, you can check for its existence through the search query, if the county clerk website provides one.
Use USPeopleSearch.com
For the most effective way to prove if someone has a will that takes the least amount of time and elbow grease, we strongly recommend our people search engine. By entering a person’s name and location, you can get a comprehensive report of everything from their last known address to their social media profiles.
For your purpose, it will also list public records related to the individual you are searching for. This means that if they have a will in a public registry or database, it most likely will be found with an efficient and quick search.
If you do not have their full name and location but have access to their phone number, you can rely on the reverse phone lookup tool, which requires nothing more than their cell number. If it doesn’t provide you with information surrounding their will, get the name and enter it into the people lookup to get more specific results.
How Do You Find Out if Someone Has a Will? In Conclusion
Dealing with paperwork after you have experienced a tragedy is a very difficult process that we will all have to suffer at some point in our lives. In the interest of making your life far easier, try to use these focused methods to lessen the headache and get the results you need more easily. Websites like the local county clerk and the U.S Will Registry can be valuable resources.
Attorneys may have access to information you do not have and can potentially divulge it, depending on whether you are allowed access to the will. Family and friends may be more willing to talk about a will, though they may not appreciate the intrusive questions while they mourn a loved one.
For the best results, use our people search engine for a quick, comprehensive answer that doesn’t require you to upset loved ones or drive to a county clerk’s office.
Previous Article
