Will Searches within Canada (BC and National only)

To initiate an estate case into probate, often legal clients need to know first and foremost if the Decedent left a Last Will & Testament in order to determine who will benefit from the estate. In many cases legal counsel struggle with this, for often it is difficult to determine: (1) if the Decedent indeed left a Last Will & Testament, (2) where the Will may have been registered if one was written, and (3) determining who may benefit from that estate based upon the details enclosed within the Last Will & Testament or jurisdictional intestate heirship rules.

Not everyone left a Will (intestate) and the vast majority of persons who wrote one may not have had it registered. Often it is up to the Executor to find the Last Will & Testament, which may or may not have been registered, and be only located in family papers and household possessions. Sometimes no local Will Registry facility exists where the Decedent drew up his Will or the Decedent just chose not to register it with other than his or her legal counsel. However, in the case where there was no Last Will & Testament found, the Estate Administrator or Trustee must then probate the estate under The Probate Act of the jurisdiction of the Decedent’s normal residence.

If you are struggling to locate a Last Will & Testament for a case, GEN-FIND can help you if you believe that the Decedent may have registered their Will in British Columbia or Federally in Canada. Sadly, every other province and territory in Canada has no regional-wide registry for Wills, with the vast majority of written Wills only held by the Decedent’s legal counsel. It can be a struggle, though, trying to determine who legally wrote the Will for the Decedent, in Canada. Therefore, it is so important that a thorough analysis be undertaken of all papers in the possession of the Decedent at the time of his/her death, and in consultation with their family, in an effort to find that sometimes elusive Last Will & Testament.

If you are seeking a Last Will & Testament from another country, GEN-FIND may be able to help you locate it.