Looking for a Will?
The Society often receives requests for Wills and/or Power of Attorney documents. This is a complex area of law and readers are advised to consult with a notary or lawyer depending on the circumstance. The information on this page is general information and is not legal advice.
Please note the following:
- Notaries generally do not keep or hold original Wills or documents.
- There are some circumstances in which the Society has records of original documents.
- A Will may only be released to the Will maker or the Executor(s) named in the Will.
- The BC Government maintains a Wills Registry. You can read about it here.
- If you are making a request to the Society about a Will you must include the results of a Wills Notice search.
- A Wills Notice will tell you where the Will was stored. Not everyone files with the Wills Registry.
- Even if an original can be found unless the requestor is the Will Maker or the Executor you are not entitled to see or read the Will.
- A law firm making an inquiry to a Notary or to the Society while probating an estate for a deceased person must include a Will Search Notice and authorization from their client/the executor to release a document.
- Save and except under special circumstances a copy of a Will has no legal validity.
Once you have the results of the Will Search, you may complete and submit the document request form .
The Society will review the form to determine whether we have access to the Will or a copy of it.
If our records indicate that a member may have the Will file, we will contact that member.