It would be unfortunate to create a will and have no one be able to find it after you pass away.
Getting an estate plan is not the most difficult thing you will ever do. An experienced estate planning attorney will do most of the work of making sure you have an estate plan that will be effective at fulfilling your wishes.
However, you still would have put a lot of time and thought into the process, so you can tell the attorney what your wishes are. This is true, even if your estate plan consists of nothing more than a simple will.
It would be a shame if it cannot be carried out after you pass away.
That happens more often than it should as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discussed in "The Biggest Estate-Plan Mistake: Losing It."{: target="_blank"}
While sometimes estate plans are not fulfilled for legal reasons, they often fail for a much more basic reason. No one knows where to find the estate plan documents and sometimes no one knows they even exist. Therefore, the instructions in them cannot be carried out.
It is not difficult to avoid having this problem.
You should always know where your will is located. You should also tell someone who is close to you where to find it. Someone who will know that you have passed away, needs to know where to look for your estate plan when the time comes.
If the original copy of your will is at your attorney's office, make sure a close friend or family member knows that and knows the name of your attorney.
Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Feb.12, 2018) "The Biggest Estate-Plan Mistake: Losing It."{: target="_blank"}