鈥淚 am not clear of the purpose of the registration of a will. Is it an aspect of a will鈥檚 validity? What does it mean to resister a will and what is its purpose?鈥�
I love questions! I wonder at times if my column topics are hitting the mark. If a question has been posed, I know at least one reader is interested!
British Columbia鈥檚 Vital Statistics Agency (VSA) maintains a Wills Registry.
For a $17.00 fee, you can submit a form called a Wills Notice to the VSA. You set out the location of your will in that form.
You submit only the form and the money. You don鈥檛 submit your will.
You can submit the form in person at a Service BC office, you can mail it in, or you can do it online.
If you have any difficulty finding a link to the online form, e-mail me and I鈥檒l help you out.
The purpose of the Wills Registry is to avoid a scenario where your executor or beneficiaries don鈥檛 know how to find your will after your death.
You can avoid the $17.00 fee by directly telling your executor and beneficiaries the location of your will, rather than requiring them to do a search of the Wills Registry to find it.
Most law firms will offer to store your will in their locked and fire-proofed safe. It鈥檚 a handy solution for folks who don鈥檛 have a safety deposit box.
You can simply tell your family that it鈥檚 stored there.
And the will itself likely has the law firm鈥檚 name on it, so if you provide a copy to your family members, they will have that reminder of its location.
Bit of a tangent here: a law firm storing your will is not a selfless service.
If I鈥檓 storing your original will, your executor will have to come to me after you pass away.
Your executor might presume that I should be the one to provide the legal services required to probate the will.
I do start with the credibility boost that I was the lawyer you chose to prepare your will.
Regardless, I have the first opportunity to give your executor a sales pitch that they should hire me to obtain the probate grant.
It鈥檚 sort of like the free service many automotive shops offer to store your tires.
They want you to buy your next set of tires from them.
It makes no more sense to blindly purchase your next set of tires from the automotive shop that stored your last set than it does to blindly hire the law firm that prepared your parent鈥檚 will to do the probate services.
I encourage you to get a quote and shop around.
Back to the topic at hand!
You can store your will anywhere. Many folks store their original will in a safe deposit box. Some with their important papers in their homes. Whatever you choose to do, make sure your executors and beneficiaries know where to find it.
Filing a Wills Notice avoids any uncertainty.
Unless you move your will and fail to file an updated Wills Notice!
Here鈥檚 a scenario where a Will Notice has real value.
You want to change your will and you want your executor to be able to find it, but you don鈥檛 want anyone to know that you鈥檝e made changes.
Perhaps you decide to add a new romantic partner as a beneficiary to your will but don鈥檛 want your children to get all hot and bothered about losing a portion of their inheritance.
Perhaps one of your children has been amazingly helpful over the years and you want to increase their share of your estate, but you don鈥檛 want your other children to give you grief about it.
You don鈥檛 have to tell anyone that you changed your will.
By filing a Wills Notice, you can rest assured that your wishes will be discovered on your death. An executor applying for the probate of a will must provide the court with the results of a search of the Wills Registry as evidence that there鈥檚 been no will made after the one being probated.
Your secret will is going to show up on that search.
Don鈥檛 worry about nosey family members searching the Wills Registry from time to time while you鈥檙e alive, to see if you鈥檝e changed your will.
Only you, or a lawyer or notary acting for you, may search the Wills Registry for Wills Notices pertaining to your wills while you鈥檙e alive.
Paul Hergott
Lawyer Paul Hergott began writing as a columnist in January 2007. Achieving Justice, based on Paul鈥檚 personal injury practice at the time, focused on injury claims and road safety. It was published weekly for 13 陆 years until July 2020, when his busy legal practice no longer left time for writing.
Paul was able to pick up writing again in January 2024, After transitioning his practice to estate administration and management.
Paul鈥檚 intention is to write primarily about end of life and estate related matters, but he is very easily distracted by other topics.
You are encouraged to contact Paul directly at paul@hlaw.ca with legal questions and issues you would like him to write about.
