Information on wills and mandates

How do you determine whether a person close to you entrusted a will or mandate to a lawyer?

To find out whether someone close to you entrusted a will or mandate to a lawyer, you must request a search of the Registers of wills and mandates of the Barreau du Québec. 
 
However, if you want to know whether someone close to you entrusted a will or mandate to a notary, you will have to perform the same search at the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

You must search in both places to make sure you have the most recent will or mandate of the deceased or incapable person. 
 
If you are acting as the liquidator of an estate, the Civil Code imposes a duty on you to determine whether the deceased person had a will.

Where is the original of the will or mandate?

The Barreau does not receive or retain any of these documents, which are confidential by nature. This means that the document itself (the will or mandate) is not sent to the Barreau. The document is kept by the lawyer in his office. It is not necessary that the lawyer have prepared the document himself. The important thing is that the document was handed over to him for safekeeping in his office.

What information do lawyers provide to the Barreau?

The following information is provided to the Barreau and appears in the registers: the last name and first name of the testator (the person who made the will) or the mandator (the person who gave a mandate to another person), as the case may be, his occupation and address, the date of the document and the name and contact information of the lawyer who registered it. The registers also indicate whether the lawyer held onto the document or handed it over to another lawyer, to the testator or to the mandator.

What does the Barreau do with the information it receives?

Once a lawyer has registered the mandates and wills in his possession, the Barreau retains the information in the Registers of wills and mandates of the Barreau du Québec, where the testator, his agent (the person who has a power of attorney to act on behalf of the testator), his heirs after his death, or the liquidator of his estate may request that a will or mandate search be performed.

Therefore, if you are looking for a will or a protection mandate and the document was prepared by a lawyer or merely kept at his office, you can perform a search in the Registers of wills and mandates of the Barreau du Québec.

How much does a search cost?

It costs $17.25 (including taxes) to make an on-line request to search for a will in the registers of the Barreau du Québec and $23 (including taxes) to make a request by mail or in person to search for a will or mandate.