Where Should You Keep Your Original Will and Estate Planning Documents?

The short answer: keep the original will where your executor can find it within days of your death and where no one else can lose, alter, or destroy it, and tell the executor exactly where that is. In New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, a will that was last in the testator’s possession and cannot be found after death is presumed to have been revoked, and overcoming that presumption to probate a copy requires a court proceeding and clear proof. The choice of location therefore matters more than most people assume. New York lets you deposit the original with the Surrogate’s Court for a small fee. New Jersey and Connecticut have no court depository, so the practical options are the drafting attorney’s vault, a fireproof safe at home that the executor can open, or, with care, a safe deposit box. Powers of attorney and health care directives follow a different logic: they are useless locked away, because they are needed while you are alive and unable to fetch them.

This article explains the lost-will presumption in each state, what it takes to probate a copy, where each state lets you deposit a will, the safe deposit box problem, how the other documents should be kept, and what a good “map” for your fiduciaries contains.

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What Happens If the Original Will Cannot Be Found?

The law assumes you destroyed it on purpose. That presumption is old and strong, and it is the reason the storage question is a legal question rather than a housekeeping one.

New Jersey. The Appellate Division restated the rule as recently as 2024, quoting a 1940 decision of the state’s highest court: “If such a will was last seen in the custody of the testatrix or she had access to it, the fact that it cannot be found after her death raises the presumption that she destroyed it animo revocandi,” that is, with intent to revoke. The presumption can be overcome. In In re Estate of Ehrlich, decided in 2012, the Appellate Division approved “admitting a copy of a Last Will to probate where the proof is clear, satisfactory, and convincing to rebut the presumption of the original’s revocation or destruction.” But the Surrogate cannot do it. Under Court Rule 4:82, the Surrogate’s Court “shall not act in any matter in which” a “will has been lost or destroyed,” so the family must file a complaint in the Superior Court, Chancery Division, Probate Part, with the expense and delay that entails.

New York. The Court of Appeals put it this way in Matter of Fox in 1961: “when a will previously executed cannot be found after the death of the testator, there is a strong presumption that it was revoked by destruction by the testator.” The statute governing lost wills, SCPA 1407, sets three conditions: “a lost or destroyed will may be admitted to probate only if 1. It is established that the will has not been revoked, and 2. Execution of the will is proved in the manner required for the probate of an existing will, and 3. All of the provisions of the will are clearly and distinctly proved by each of at least two credible witnesses or by a copy or draft of the will proved to be true and complete.” The Appellate Division has added that “the burden of proof is on the will proponent to show, by facts and circumstances, that the testator did not destroy the will with the intent to revoke it; mere speculation or suspicion is insufficient.”

Connecticut. The Supreme Court held in Patrick v. Bedrick in 1975 that “if a will cannot be found after the death of the maker, a prima facie rebuttable presumption arises that the maker destroyed his will with intent to revoke,” and that “the burden is then upon the proponent to rebut the presumption by ‘clear and satisfactory proof.'” Connecticut has no lost-will statute; the case law governs.

A copy, in other words, is evidence, not a will. A family that finds only a photocopy in the desk drawer will spend months and legal fees proving that the original was not revoked, and if a disappointed heir argues that the parent tore it up, the family may lose. The original is the document. Our article on who gets a copy of the will after a death explains what happens once it is found.

Can You Deposit the Original With a Court?

Only in New York.

New York. SCPA 2507 provides that the Surrogate’s Court of any county “upon being paid the fees allowed therefor by law shall receive and deposit in the court any will of a domiciliary of the county which any person shall deliver to it for that purpose.” The will is “enclosed in a sealed wrapper so that the contents thereof cannot be read” and “shall not on any pretext whatever be opened, read or examined until delivered to a person entitled to it,” meaning the testator in person during life, or after death the persons named on the wrapper or the court itself. The fee under SCPA 2402 is 45 dollars, which the court may reduce or waive. For a New Yorker with no trusted attorney holding the original and no reliable place at home, the court depository is the safest option available anywhere in the region.

New Jersey. There is no depository. What New Jersey has, under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2.1, is a will registry maintained by the Secretary of State that records where a will is kept; “the registry shall not contain a copy of the will,” registration costs 10 dollars, and “failure to file information about a will in the will registry shall not be a factor in determining the validity of the will.” It is a locator, not a vault. The county Surrogates are direct about the consequence: as one Surrogate’s office puts it, “only an original Will can be admitted to probate by the Surrogate Court,” and “if an original Will is not found, there is a presumption that the person died intestate.”

Connecticut. There is no depository either. A 2017 report of the General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Research identified Connecticut as one of three states with no will-deposit law, and nothing in the current probate statutes has changed that. What Connecticut has instead is a strict duty to deliver after death, described below.

Is a Safe Deposit Box a Good Place for a Will?

Usually not, for a reason that is obvious once stated: the person with the key is the one who has died. The box is sealed at death against everyone but a co-lessee, and the will that proves who the executor is, and therefore who may open the box, is inside the box.

New York and Connecticut solve the problem with a court order. Under New York’s SCPA 2003, the Surrogate “may make an order ex parte” directing the bank “to permit a person named in the order to examine the papers or safe deposit box,” and “if a paper purporting to be a will of the decedent, a deed to the burial plot or a policy of insurance be found to deliver the will to the clerk of the court.” Under Connecticut’s General Statutes 45a-284, the next of kin, spouse, “or any person showing a sufficient interest in the presence of a will may apply to the Court of Probate for an order to open the decedent’s safe deposit box to obtain any will or cemetery deed,” with the box “opened in the presence of an officer of the bank.” Both procedures work; both take time and a filing.

New Jersey has no statute governing access to a decedent’s safe deposit box for a will. A bill that would require the bank to remove the will and deliver it to the Surrogate has been introduced in successive legislative sessions since 2022 and has not passed. In practice the box is opened under the bank’s own procedures, often only after an administrator has been appointed, which is the circular problem the will was supposed to prevent. A New Jersey resident who insists on a safe deposit box should add a trusted person as co-lessee, with the understanding that the co-lessee then has access during life to everything else in the box.

The better uses of a safe deposit box are for the deeds, stock certificates, and other documents that are not needed immediately at death, and for a copy of the will marked as a copy with a note stating where the original is.

Where Should the Original Will Go, Then?

Three places work, in roughly this order.

The drafting attorney’s vault. Law firms keep original wills in fireproof storage, record their location, and release them only to the client or, after death, to the named executor. In New Jersey, the ethics rules treat an original will as client property that the firm may not destroy; the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics has said that such property “must be returned, or retained and maintained indefinitely.” The risk is the firm’s own continuity, and a client should ask what happens to the vault if the attorney retires or the firm closes.

New York’s Surrogate’s Court, for New Yorkers, as described above.

A fireproof, waterproof safe at home, provided the executor knows the location and how to open it, and provided the safe is not one a burglar can carry away. A locked file cabinet is not a safe, and a desk drawer is where wills go to be lost.

Wherever the original is, the executor and at least one other person should know. The will registry in New Jersey exists for that purpose, and a simple letter to the executor serves the same function in any state.

What Must Happen to the Will After Death?

Each state gives the courts a way to get the will out of whoever has it, and Connecticut imposes a duty with teeth.

Under Connecticut’s General Statutes 45a-282, “any person having in his possession any will or codicil shall, forthwith, after he has knowledge of the death of the testator, deliver such will either to the person designated to be the executor or to the judge, clerk or assistant clerk of the court of probate,” and a person who neglects to do so within 30 days “shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or both.” The executor must then “within thirty days next after the death of the testator, apply for probate” under section 45a-283.

New York’s SCPA 1401 lets the court, on a showing “that there is reasonable ground to believe that any person has knowledge of the whereabouts or destruction of a will of a decedent,” order that person “to attend and be examined.” New Jersey’s N.J.S.A. 3B:3-29 gives the Superior Court jurisdiction “to compel discovery as to the existence or whereabouts of any paper purporting to be a will” and “to require the paper to be lodged with the surrogate of the county for probate.” New Jersey also imposes a waiting period on the other side: under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-22, “no will shall be admitted to probate until after 10 days from the death of the testator,” though the papers may be filed earlier.

Where Should the Other Documents Be Kept?

A will is needed once, after death, and can be locked away. The other documents are needed while you are alive, often suddenly, and by other people.

Power of attorney. The agent needs the original, or a copy the institution will accept, on the day the principal is hospitalized. Keep the original with the agent or the attorney, give a copy to each bank in advance, and, if the power will be used for real estate, know that New Jersey’s N.J.S.A. 46:26A-2 lists “powers of attorney for conveyance or release of any interest” as recordable, New York’s Real Property Law 294 permits recording of a power to convey real property in the county where it lies, and Connecticut’s General Statutes 47-10 requires that “when a conveyance is executed by a power of attorney, the power of attorney shall be recorded with the deed.” Our article on what to do when a bank refuses a power of attorney explains why delivering copies in advance matters.

Health care directive. Copies go to the agent, the alternate, the primary physician, and the hospital’s records; none of the three states maintains a registry. New York’s Department of Health tells residents that “your current forms should be kept in your home. A copy should be given to your health care agent and to all your health care providers.” A photograph on the agent’s phone is not a legal original but is what the emergency room will see first.

Trust instruments. The successor trustee needs the original or a certified copy to take over accounts. Keep it with the will and give the successor trustee a copy.

Digital assets. All three states have adopted the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, and each provides that if the user has not used an online tool at the provider, the user “may allow or prohibit in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record” disclosure of digital assets to a fiduciary, in the words of New Jersey’s N.J.S.A. 3B:14-61.4; New York’s EPTL 13-A-3.2 and Connecticut’s General Statutes 45a-334h are to the same effect. The documents should say what the fiduciary may access, and a separate, secured list of accounts and how to reach them should exist, kept apart from the passwords themselves.

Electronic wills. Not yet an option here. New Jersey’s electronic wills bill has been introduced in successive sessions and has not passed. Connecticut’s statute still requires a will “in writing, subscribed by the testator and attested by two witnesses.” New York has enacted an Electronic Wills Act, EPTL 3-6.1 and following, but it does not take effect until December 12, 2027, and it will require the electronic will to be “electronically filed with the New York state unified court system” within 30 days of execution or be “deemed invalid.” Until then, a will in all three states is paper, and a scan of it is a copy.

What Should the “Map” for Your Fiduciaries Contain?

A single document, updated when anything changes and kept where the executor and the agent can find it, listing:

• Where the original will and any codicils are, and who has the key or the authority to release them
• Where the trust instruments, powers of attorney, and health care directives are, and who holds copies
• The drafting attorney’s name and contact information
• Every financial account, insurer, and retirement plan, with the institution’s name and the last four digits of the account, but not the passwords
• Where the deeds, titles, and insurance policies are
• The location of the safe deposit box, the bank, and the co-lessee if any
• The digital accounts that matter, and where the credentials are kept
• Funeral and burial wishes and any prepaid arrangements

The map is not a legal document and requires no formalities. It is the thing that turns a well-drafted plan into one that works in the week after a death, and its absence is the reason so many families begin the process by searching the house.

Plan Well. Live Better.

A will that cannot be found is, in the eyes of the law, a will that was revoked. At Milvidskiy Law Group, we hold original documents for clients who want us to, explain the options in each state, and help families build the map their fiduciaries will need. Learn more about our estate planning services.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The rules on lost wills, court deposit, and safe deposit box access depend on the state and the facts, court fees change, and the New Jersey and New York electronic will legislation described was pending or not yet effective when this article was written. The statutes, court rules, and decisions described were verified in September 2026 and should be confirmed before relying on them.