I was very surprised to discover (under UK English law) that nearest blood relatives do not have an automatic right to view a will.
The will remains a private document until probate is granted. Only the executor and beneficiaries have a right to see it.
It seems that if the executor refuses to show you the will you can only see it by contesting it. Contesting a will is very expensive. You can file a caveat but that can easily be warned off. Once you enter an appearance you immediately risk having to pay both your costs and your opponents all before you know whether you have a claim.
This must be a very common scenario so why isn't there an automatic right for nearest blood relatives to view the will?
(note that there is something called a Larke vs Nugus statement - see https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/16827/probate-larke-vs-nugus-statement but I think that refers to the circumstances in which it was written not its actual contents).
When you write a will you assume a benevolent executor who will involve family in the process even if they are not named as beneficiaries. Alas this is not always the case.
Being recently affected by this I am considering whether to campaign for a change in the law to grant such a right (unless the testator explicitly revokes it) so I am interested in arguments for and against it.