Documents & Records
Wills - British Columbia
Basics
Copies of wills probated in British Columbia between 1861 and 1981 are available for public consultation. When looking for wills, keep in mind that not all wills are subject to probate. It is also possible that the person you are researching did not leave a will. In this case, you may still be able to locate a relevant B.C. probate case file.
Finding the Records
At the Vancouver Public Library
VPL has indexes to B.C. wills covering the period 1861-1981:
Victoria Probate Index and Wills Index, 1861-1981, 12 vol.
British Columbia Supreme Court
Ref. Microfilm 929.3711 V64
The B.C. will indexes are on six microfilm reels in Fine Arts and History on Level 6. Note that the microfilms also index probate files for the Victoria Probate Registry only. Wills, by contrast, are indexed for the whole province. (For more information on probate files, including those created and maintained in registries outside Victoria, see Probate Case Files - British Columbia).
The volume numbers and range of years covered by each microfilm index reel are as follows:
| Microfilm number | Volumes | Years |
| B1990 | Volume 1-4 | 1861-1948 |
| B11790 | Volume 5-6 | 1948-1962 |
| B11791 | Volume 6-7 | 1955-1968 |
| B11792 | Volume 7-8 | 1962-1975 |
| B11793 | Volume 9-11 | 1973-1980 |
| B11794 | Volume 11-12 | 1978-1981 |
Each volume of the indexes is in rough alphabetical order, according to first two or three letters of each person's last name. For example, all names beginning with Wo are grouped together. Except for the first two letters, the names are not otherwise in order, so you must carefully review all names in each group when looking for an individual. The following transcript shows how a portion of names beginning with Wo appear in the index listing for the period 1955-1962:
| Wong | Hop Quong |
| Wood | Alice Mary |
| Woodbridge | Jane Alice |
| Wolfe | Sara Margaret |
| Woods | Emma |
| Wood | Wilhelmina |
| Wong | Chung Ark (Hop Lee) |
The transcription below corresponds to a full entry in the B.C. wills index:
| Surname |
Christian Name |
Papers |
Books |
Wills |
Remarks |
|||
| No. | A or P | Vol. | Fol. | Vol. | Fol. | |||
| Yen | Chu Tait | 145/60 | P | 100 | 166 | 194 | 619 | 93876 |
The Original Will Number is found in the Remarks column. This is all the information required to find a copy of the actual will. To view the will, you need to visit or contact the B.C. Archives in Victoria. Cloverdale Branch of the Surrey Public Library also has a complete set of B.C. wills from 1861-1981 on microfilm.
Note: Numbers appearing in the Papers and Books columns in the will indexes indicate that a will was probated in the Victoria Supreme Court Registry. For more information on these documents, as well as probates administered by courts in other B.C. locations, see Probate Case Files - British Columbia.
For more information on locating B.C. wills, see the B.C. Archives Wills Guide (1861-1981)
Photo banner: Detail from VPL Historical Photograph 78362
