Canadian law in every province except BC requires wills to be printed, signed, and stored on paper (BC residents can execute a will online). In the context of Willful, do not store executed wills on our platform. We provide our customers with PDF documents that they then print/sign/witness to make legally valid, with clear instructions on how to do that.
This means that the unsigned PDF on Willful’s platform is not a legally valid document.
You will need to find the signed copy of the will, which will be a paper copy (or possibly a signed digital copy in BC).
If you're having trouble finding your loved one's executed will, here is some information that may help:
At home
Folks often keep their wills at home. This can be in filing cabinets, safes, or other secure storage areas. If they don’t have a safe, keep an eye out for flame-proof or water-proof sealed folders that may contain important documents.
Since BC allows the legal storage of digital wills in Canada, it’s possible the deceased’s will could be saved on a hard drive, USB stick, or in the cloud.
Will Registries:
National Registry: The Canada Will Registry is a database that allows you to search for registered wills across the country.
Willful provides every customer with free registration on the Canada Will Registry. This registry does not store executed wills; rather, it is meant to help give you pieces of information that can help you find the paper copy of the will.
The will registry is 100% optional, so if your loved one did complete their will on Willful, they may have registered their will on the registry by providing details on:
- When it was executed;
- Who the executor is;
- & where you can find the paper copy.
You can pay to perform a search on the registry to get access to those details; if the will search comes up blank, it either means that your loved one did not finish their will or did not register it. In either case, you will still need to find the paper copy of the will.
Provincial Registries: if your loved one lived in Quebec, they may have purchased a Notarial Will via Willful. You can simply call the Chambres des Notaires, where the original will is registered, and get access to the original copy. You can also check with the Barreau du Québec.
If your loved one lived in BC, they may have also paid to register the will on the Vital Statistics Agency will registry.