The Wills Register

The Wills Register is an initiative of the Law Society's Succession and Elder Law Committee and the aim is to provide a secure centralised register containing the location of South Australian wills. It allows legal practitioners to quickly track down lost wills that have been registered, and add their own clients wills to the register.

The Wills Register is free to both register wills and search and is accessible to all current legal practitioners working in a South Australian law practice.

To access the register, you must read and agree to the Terms and Conditions, then click 'Agree'.

Please click here to proceed to Terms and Conditions

Is client permission required to add their will to the register?

Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) Legal Practices with a turnover of $3m a year or more are obliged to inform their clients that their personal information will be provided to the Law Society of South Australia for the purpose of listing their will on the Wills Register.

In addition, all clients have a right to legal professional privilege and therefore consent of the client needs to be obtained to record their will on the register. However, where a will was created prior to 1 December 2019 and the practitioner has been unable to contact the client for their consent, despite having taken reasonable steps to do so, the will can be added to the register without receiving consent (see section 95E of the Legal Practitioners Act 1981 (SA)).

How to Use the Wills Register in Your Legal Practice

To ensure the maximum benefit to your clients and the South Australian community, we strongly encourage all Legal Practitioners implement the use of the Wills Register in their legal practice. Implementing the Wills Register in your process is as simple as updating your internal process to seek your clients' consent to register their will on the Wills Register; and register each new will on the register.

The information recorded in the register is:

  • First Name*
  • Middle Name/s
  • Surname*
  • Date of Birth
  • Date of Will*
  • Version (the original will, a copy, or drafted only - no copy held)

We also encourage you to add your existing wills to the register in bulk by:

  1. Seeking your clients' consent to register their will on the Wills Register.
  2. Create an Excel Spreadsheet of all wills held by your law firm, where:
    • you have received consent to register their will, or
    • the will was created prior to 1 December 2019, and you have not been able to contact the client for their consent, despite taking reasonable steps to do so.
  3. Send the Excel Spreadsheet to Ethics and Practice via email.
    • Please ensure the Excel Spreadsheet is formated with the following columns:
      • First Name*
      • Middle Name/s
      • Surname*
      • Date of Birth
      • Date of Will*
      • Version (the original will, a copy, or drafted only - no copy held)

* Denotes fields which are required information.

Who can access the Wills Register?

Only legal practitioners currently working in a South Australian Legal Practice who have agreed to the terms and conditions can search the register.

Non-legal practitioners employed at a legal practice can be granted access to add Wills to the register and view the register of Wills held by their legal practice, but not search the complete register. Access can be granted to non-legal practitioners if requested by a Partner (or equivalent) in writing via email to Ethics and Practice.

Can wills be deleted from the register?

As a general rule, wills cannot be deleted from the register. The Law Society encourages all wills to be kept on the register. If your client passes away, or has a new will drafted at your firm or elsewhere, it is still best to keep the will on the register, as these records sometimes need to be accessed in the future.

In certain cases, such as an error in the record, the Law Society can delete wills from the register. Please email Ethics and Practice with the details of the record you would like deleted and the reason for deletion.

Can the will details on the register be edited?

Wills can only be edited by the person that added them, until 11:00pm on the day that they were added. If an entry needs to be edited in the case of an error, please email Ethics and Practice with the details.

Can a new will be uploaded if there is already an existing will with the same name on the register?

Yes. Simply enter the new will as a new entry. When someone searches your client’s name, it will display both records of the will, and allow them to see what entry is most up-to-date.

The Wills Register's Terms and Conditions

The Law Society of South Australia Incorporated (LSSA) has developed an electronic database for the registration of the location and date of wills held by South Australian legal practitioners or legal practices (Register).

These terms and conditions (Terms) form the basis upon which LSSA grants access to, and use of, the Register. By clicking ‘Agree’ you are agreeing to be bound by these Terms.

From time to time these Terms may be changed without notice to you. A current version of the Terms will be kept on the LSSA website. Please make sure you review the Terms each time you access the Register.

Each time you access or use the Register, you agree that such access or use takes place on the then current Terms as shown on the LSSA website.

  1. Function of the Register
    1. The function and purpose of the Register is to record the location and date of wills and codicils held by legal practitioners or legal practices in South Australia.
    2. The Register will be populated by data input directly by legal practitioners or employees of legal practices, or imported from data provided by legal practitioners or legal practices, and will include:
      1. the name of the individual whose will is held by the legal practitioner;
      2. the date of birth of the individual whose will is held by the legal practitioner;
      3. the date of the will; and
      4. the name of the legal practitioner or legal practice holding the will current at the time the data was populated or updated by notification to LSSA. (together the Will Details)
    3. The Will Details will be made available to legal practitioners practising in South Australia for the purpose of determining the location of a particular will in order to provide services in connection with the provision of legal services to either:
      1. during the life of the testator, the testator; or
      2. after the death of the testator, the executor of the testator’s will, or a person who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that they may be the executor of that testator’s will (Purpose).  
  2. Use of the Register
    1. By accessing the Register you agree and undertake that you will not use the Will Details or any other information contained in the Register other than for the Purpose.
    2. You agree and undertake that you will not allow any person other than a legal practitioner, or an employee of a legal practice to access the Register.
    3. You must keep your username and password for accessing the Register secure at all times, and immediately notify LSSA in the event that you believe the security of your account has been or is likely to have been compromised.
  3. Your Content
    1. In using the Register, you may submit content, including Will Details to the Register (Your Content).
    2. You grant LSSA a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, world-wide, assignable and sub-licenceable licence to Your Content for the purposes of maintaining the Register, providing access to the Register to other legal practitioners, and our related and internal purposes.
    3. You are responsible for the accuracy of Your Content. You agree not to knowingly submit erroneous information to the Register.
    4. You acknowledge that we, and third parties, may rely upon Your Content. You hereby grant us an indemnity from any and all loss arising from our use of Your Content.
    5. You are responsible for obtaining consent for the publication of Your Content where you are required to do so by law.
    6. By providing Your Content to LSSA, you confirm that the publishing of any data, information or materials of any type by you will not breach or infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party whatsoever, and you accept all liability for the dissemination or publication of the data, information or materials provided by you to us.
    7. You are responsible for updating Your Content as soon as practicable where it is outdated.
  4. No Representation or warranties
    1. We make no representation or warranty as to the appropriateness, completeness or accuracy of any information exchanged or displayed on the Register. We do not verify any information presented on the Register.
    2. Provision of the Register to you is at our discretion. We provide no guarantee of the availability or suitability of the Register for any purpose.
    3. We have no obligation to provide uninterrupted access to the Register, and although we will try our best to provide a stable and online service, the Register may be unavailable from time to time, or access to it limited or restricted.
    4. To the greatest extent permissible by law, LSSA disclaims any and all implied warranties with respect to the provision of the Register beyond the warranties contained in these Terms.
    5. You agree to hold harmless LSSA, its directors, officers and employees from any liability, howsoever arising, from your use or attempted use of the Register.
  5. General
    1. Notice 
      Any notice, consent, agreement, request, direction, submission, offer, acceptance, rejection or other communication given under or in relation to these Terms must be in writing, signed by the party giving it or by its duly authorised officer and delivered personally or by pre-paid registered post or email. Notices will be deemed to have been delivered on the fifth business day after they have been sent (if by post), or on the next business day after they have been sent (if by email).
    2. Amendment
      No amendment or variation of these Terms is valid or binding on LSSA unless it has agreed to that variation in writing.
    3. Assignment
      1. LSSA may assign its rights and obligations under these Terms.
      2. Your rights and obligations under these Terms are personal and may not be assigned without LSSA’s prior written consent.
    4. Governing law and jurisdiction
      1. These Terms and any relevant relationship or transaction arising from them, are governed by the laws of South Australia.
      2. Each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of courts exercising jurisdiction in South Australia in connection with matters concerning these Terms.
    5. Relationship 
      The relationship between the parties is that of independent contractors. The parties are not partners, joint-venturers, or principal and agent.
    6. Severability 
      If the whole or any part of a provision of these Terms are void, unenforceable or illegal in a jurisdiction it is severed for that jurisdiction.  The remainder of these Terms have full force and effect and the validity or enforceability of that provision in any other jurisdiction is not affected.  This clause has no effect if the severance alters the basic nature of these Terms or is contrary to public policy.

Agree

Access is restricted to legal practitioners working in South Australian Legal Practices.

Need assistance using the Wills Register?

For more information about using the Wills Register, please contact Ethics and Practice via email [email protected] or on (08) 8229 0229.

Email Ethics and Practice