How do I find out if a trust sederunt book survives for a particular individual?

What you are hoping for is that the sederunt book(s) for the individual, family or trust you are interested in survives among the records of a firm of solicitors (or, less likely, within family or business papers) deposited at an archives service which is open to the public. The National Records of Scotland, Glasgow City Archives and the National Library of Scotland all hold large collections of solicitors’ records. Other local authority archives and university libraries and archives also hold smaller collections.

Most archives services have cataloguing systems available online and you should start by using these systems or Your Scottish Archives to search for the name of the individual, family or trust. If you do not find anything and you have some evidence that the individual or family used a solicitor and set up a trust, contact the relevant archives service and ask for assistance. Always remember, however, that many solicitors have not deposited records with an archives service and that only a few people set up such trusts, so be prepared to be told there is nothing relevant in the collections.