The ACT Will Register: How to Search for a Will After Someone Dies

When someone dies, one of the most urgent questions is whether they left a Will — and where it is. The answer determines who has authority to administer the estate, who inherits, and which legal process applies. In the ACT, there is a formal register where people can lodge their Wills for safekeeping, but it is not comprehensive, and knowing how to search it correctly saves time in the early days after a death.

What the ACT Will Register is

The ACT Will Register is a voluntary register maintained by the ACT Public Trustee and Guardian (PTG). People can deposit their original Will with the PTG for safekeeping during their lifetime. The PTG provides secure storage, and upon the person's death, the register provides a way for executors and family members to locate and retrieve the document.

The key word is voluntary. A person who has made a Will is under no legal obligation to register it anywhere. Many ACT residents keep their original Will with their solicitor, in a home safe, in a bank safety deposit box, or simply in a filing cabinet. Checking the Will Register is one important step in locating a Will — but it is not the only step, and a negative result does not mean no Will exists.

How to search the ACT Will Register

The PTG will conduct a search of the Will Register on request. To initiate a search, you need to contact the ACT Public Trustee and Guardian:

• Phone: 02 6207 9800
• Address: 12 Moore Street, Canberra City ACT 2600
• Online: ptg.act.gov.au

You will be asked to provide the deceased's full legal name, date of birth, date of death, and your own identification confirming your relationship to the deceased or your status as a potential beneficiary or executor.

There may be a fee for the search — confirm this with the PTG when you contact them. The search is typically completed promptly, given that the PTG's own records are centralised.

If the Will Register contains a Will lodged by the deceased, the PTG will advise you of its existence and the process for releasing the document to the appropriate person (usually the named executor or next of kin).

The national Will search: Willsearch

Because Australia has no single national Will register, a Will lodged with a solicitor in ACT, NSW, or another state will not appear in the ACT PTG search. The Law Society of NSW operates Willsearch (willsearch.com.au), a national database that allows solicitors, banks, and authorised persons to search for Wills held in trust by legal practitioners across participating states and territories.

If you are not finding the Will through the PTG register, a Willsearch query is the logical next step. Access typically requires you to be an executor, legal personal representative, or a beneficiary with a legitimate interest.

There is also a national safekeeping register operated through the National Public Trustee Register, accessible via participating state Public Trustee offices. Ask the ACT PTG about cross-state searches when you contact them.

Where to search if the Will Register draws a blank

If neither the PTG register nor a Willsearch query turns up a Will, methodically search the deceased's physical and digital spaces:

Physical search:

• The deceased's personal filing cabinet or document folder
• A home safe or lockbox (check for a combination or key among personal effects)
• Bank safety deposit boxes (the bank requires a death certificate and next-of-kin identification to allow access)
• The offices of any solicitor the deceased regularly used — call each firm and ask whether they hold any documents for the deceased

Among the deceased's papers:

• Look for any earlier Wills, which may reference the current one or name the solicitor who drafted it
• Legal correspondence from a solicitor (any letterhead referencing estate planning matters)
• Receipts or correspondence from a Public Trustee in any state

Digital:

• Check email for correspondence with solicitors about Wills or estate planning
• Some people store digital copies of their Will in cloud storage or email drafts — note that a digital copy is not legally valid, but it may identify where the original was lodged

What happens if no Will is found

If a thorough search genuinely produces no Will, the estate is treated as intestate (dying without a Will), and the ACT's intestacy rules under the Administration and Probate Act 1929 apply. The surviving spouse or next of kin must apply for Letters of Administration rather than probate, and the estate is distributed according to the statutory formula rather than the deceased's expressed wishes.

One important legal point: if only a photocopy or digital copy of a Will can be found, and no original can be located, the courts apply a legal presumption that the original Will was intentionally destroyed by the testator — meaning it is presumed to have been revoked. Rebutting this presumption requires detailed affidavits and is a complex legal process. This is not an impossible task, but it requires a solicitor and takes time.

Registering a Will while still alive

If this experience has prompted you to ensure your own Will can be found, the ACT PTG accepts Will deposits from living residents. Registration involves lodging the original Will with the PTG and paying a one-off storage fee. In the event of your death, any person with a legitimate interest can search the register and retrieve the document.

Alternatively, advise your executor in writing of where your original Will is held — a simple letter kept with your personal documents that says "my Will is held by [solicitor name] at [firm name], [address]" can save the people responsible for your estate significant time and anxiety.

For full guidance on what to do after a Will is located — or after confirming no Will exists — the ACT Estate Settlement Guide walks through both the probate and letters of administration pathways. It is available at /au/australian-capital-territory/estate-settlement/.

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