NoticeConnect has officially launched the Canada Will Registry. Lawyers and firms can register their will vaults, organize their digital records, and transfer and receive records. When we have a critical mass of wills registered (over 100,000) we will enable the ability to submit searches.

Why a will registry?

When someone dies, how do you know if they had a will? If you find one, how do you know it's the most recent?

We heard from many of our clients about how this is a serious problem. Wills routinely go missing and are presumed to be revoked, with serious implications for the estate. The current tools to search for missing wills are not enough, and require firms to manually cross-reference missing will notices against their records. This is burdensome.

We built the Canada Will Registry to solve this problem. Many hundreds of law firms have NoticeConnect accounts and use our system to advertise for creditors. We're working with our customers to establish a Canada-wide, centralized system for registering and finding wills.

Register your Wills

It's easy to register your wills. You can register one at a time by filling out a form on our website or you can register your entire vault at once by uploading a spreadsheet.

We're happy to assist with the preparation of your bulk registration spreadsheet. Registering your will vault is free.

Click here to read our guide on how to register.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Your data stays private and confidential. It's stored on secure servers in Canada (i.e. no cross-border data transfers). It's encrypted and accessible only by your firm.

Read more about how we handle confidentiality, here.

Manage your Data

Once you've registered your wills, you can access and manage your data with our "My Will Vault" tool.

We've also included a powerful feature for transfering digital records between firms. You can send your registered wills to another lawyer like a banking e-transfer.

If a lawyer is retiring, for example, they can transfer their will vault to another firm along with the physical files. This makes it easy to integrate their records into another firm's practice.

Searching the Registry

Searching the registry will not directly tell you if there is a will or who has it. We'll issue you a Search Certificate, confirming what you searched for and when. This is evidence that you did your due diligence when administering an estate.

Our system then cross-references the search queries against the registered wills. If there's match with a will you registered, we'll alert you and we'll provide the searcher's contact information. You get to decide if and how to respond, just as you would if someone called up your firm asking if you have a particular will.

Your firm remains the gatekeeper of its own information.

We already have over 20,000 wills registered. When we hit a critical mass of wills, we will open up the ability to submit searches.

Activate Your Access

You can access the Canada Will Registry with your current NoticeConnect account. To get started, email us at [email protected] and we will enable your access to the registry.