Keep the original somewhere safe that at least one trusted person knows about: a home safe or a notarial deposit. The fact that the will exists should be recorded separately, in the Notarial Register of Wills or in a digital safe. The worst option is a hiding place only the author knows about.
The problem is not theft but the will never being found
Wills rarely disappear because somebody took them. They disappear because nobody knew where they were, or found out after the succession case had closed. The proceedings then follow statutory inheritance, which is precisely the opposite of what the author set out to arrange.
Seen that way, a perfectly hidden compartment is worse than an ordinary folder your daughter knows about.
Three options that actually work
Notarial deposit. A notary takes the will into safekeeping. This is the safest option for a document that may be challenged, because the office confirms the date of deposit and the fact of storage itself.
A home safe or a bank safe deposit box, combined with telling a trusted person where the document is and how they will reach it. A safe deposit box has one trap: after the tenant’s death, access requires succession formalities, so the will can end up locked inside the very institution that needs the will.
A trusted person or an executor who keeps the original. A simple option, provided that person is genuinely reachable and is not also a party to a potential dispute.
Record the information separately from the document
Where the original is kept and the fact that a will exists at all are two different things, and they are recorded separately.
The Notarial Register of Wills does not store the content, only a note that the document was drawn up and where to look for it. A digital safe with instructions for your family does the same thing privately: your family learns about the will at the moment you planned for.
What not to do
Do not keep the will together with documents meant for destruction after a few years. Do not create several signed originals in several places, because it later becomes impossible to establish which one is the last. And do not assume the family will find it while clearing out the flat: clearing out usually happens after the first visit to a notary.
Put your most important documents in one secure place
Sejf Życia is an encrypted space for documents, access details and instructions for loved ones. Only you decide who gets access, and when.