Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

There have been some fascinating, sometimes entertaining, bequests over the centuries people's wills and as these examples illustrate.

Economist Jeremy Bentham left a large fortune to the University College in London on condition that his preserved corpse annually "attends" the board of directors' meetings. He was recorded as "present but not voting" for many years."

Playwright George Bernard Shaw bequeathed millions to whomever could come up with a better alphabet, which he believed should contain at least 40 letters.

Ruth Lilly, an amateur poet and billionaire in the US, bequeathed $100 million to an ailing poetry magazine that repeatedly rejected her work.

British singer Dusty Springfield's will left money be spent on a lifetime supply of her cat Nicholas' favorite meal -- imported baby food.

William Shakespeare bequeathed his "second best bed with the furniture" to his wife.

A man called Henry Budd in 1862 left £200,000 in a trust for his two sons on the condition that neither grew a moustache

An unknown woman gave £100,000 to a pot plant, because "it was the only thing that listened to her".

But the serious point is that we only know all this because copies of the wills were carefully stored to ensure the instructions they contained could be carried out as the person wanted.

Documents must legally be kept for 12 years after the testator's death in fire and flood-proof storage. While many people store them at home statistics show that a home risks being burgled twice in your life, and there's a one in six chance of a house fire which may incinerate the contents of "fireproof" boxes.

It's also estimated that more than one third of all wills are never found - often being deliberately "lost" by relatives or their partners, who find them and dislike the contents!

That can add up to a lot of paper needing to be stored by professional will writers and the obvious solution is to use a self-storage unit, where the security conditions are good and there is 24-hour access to documents.

Most will provide the testator and their executors with certificates of storage so everyone knows where they are kept and how to obtain them when the need arises.

Access is important because family and personal circumstances can change and a will therefore needs amending or adding to.

But a Will can be invalidated by a number of things, including a tear or some sort of damage.

Secure storage in an appropriate environment will also take care of that. Generally people prefer the documents to be stored locally so a secure, self storage facility are ideal if quick access to a will is needed.

Self storage is also a good way for will writing companies to cut down on what is effectively dead, but expensive office space. Overheads and insurance costs on the business can quickly mount up if you add to that the cost of ensuring conditions are fire and waterproof.

Flexible document storage will take care of all that and allow for systematic, properly labelled storage on either racks or in containers - something that the facility's local staff can advise on. Some will also keep a secure duplicate record at their premises of the documents stored, which can be another useful safeguard.

All in all secure document self storage in a proper facility can cut down on business overheads and provide business and clients with peace of mind as well as easy access whenever the need arises.