LCQ21:System for handling wills
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Question:
At present, members of the public who wish to draw up a will largely rely on private law firms or handle the matter themselves, and the Government has not established an official centralised will registration system. There are views that with Hong Kong's ageing population and the increasing popularity of digital infrastructure, there is a growing demand in society for estate administration and related support services, and thus establishing a standardised and digitised estate registration system is worthy of further exploration. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) over the past three years, of the respective numbers of applications for Grants made to the Probate Registry of the High Court in respect of cases with a valid will and those without a will, and the respective average time taken to process such applications;
(2) given that where all the properties beneficially owned by a member of the public in Hong Kong as at the date of death are wholly made up of money not exceeding $50,000 in aggregate, the executor of the will or the person entitled in priority to administer the deceased's estate may apply to the Estate Beneficiaries Support Unit of the Home Affairs Department (HAD) for a confirmation notice, over the past three years, of the respective numbers of applications for a confirmation notice in respect of cases with a valid will and those without a will, and the respective average time taken to process such applications;
(3) over the past three years, among the applications for a "Certificate for Necessity of Inspection of Bank Deposit Box" received by the HAD, whether the authorities have compiled statistics on the number and proportion of cases where a will was stored in a safe deposit box; if not, whether the authorities will consider establishing a mechanism for compiling the relevant statistics;
(4) given that Hong Kong currently does not have an official centralised will database, whether the authorities will draw on the experience of the Mainland, Singapore or relevant regions in Europe to study the feasibility of establishing an official centralised will database; and
(5) whether the authorities will study integrating the "iAM Smart" digital authentication system to explore allowing members of the public to register wills or file their intent, so as to ensure the authenticity of wills and facilitate the administration of estates in the future?
Reply:
President,
Under the Wills Ordinance (Cap. 30), a person may dispose of his/her property by will executed in accordance with the Ordinance. Upon the death of a testator, an executor may apply to the Probate Registry of the High Court for a grant of probate under the Probate and Administration Ordinance (Cap. 10) to administer the testator's estate. If, as at the date of the testator's death, all properties beneficially owned by him/her in Hong Kong are money not exceeding $50,000 in aggregate, and he/she did not hold any property as trustee or as the manager of a Tso or Tong, the executor may apply to the Estate Beneficiaries Support Unit (EBSU) of the Home Affairs Department (HAD) for a Confirmation Notice (CN) under section 60K of the Probate and Administration Ordinance (Cap. 10).
Having consulted the Judiciary, a reply to the question raised by the Hon Christine Fong as follows:
(1) The respective numbers of cases disposed of by the Probate Registry of the High Court in the past three years are appended below:
| Year | Total number of applications | Grant without a will | Grant with a will | Other applications (including resealing, summary administration of estates, etc.) |
| 2023 | 23 718 | 15 138 | 7 373 | 1 207 |
| 2024 | 26 609 | 17 307 | 8 037 | 1 265 |
| 2025 | 26 028 | 16 717 | 8 045 | 1 266 |
The Judiciary does not maintain any statistics on the average processing times for the above types of applications.
In overall terms, in the past three years, for applications for grant submitted by unrepresented applicants, around 99 per cent had the grant issued within 60 days from the date of filing. For applications for grant lodged by solicitors on behalf of applicants which are usually more complicated, around 50 per cent had the grant issued within 60 days from the date of filing; and around 20 per cent and 15 per cent had the grant issued between two and six months and between six and 12 months respectively.
(2) The total number of applications for CNs received by the EBSU of the HAD, and the respective numbers of cases with or without a will over the past three years are set out below:
| Year | Total number of applications for CNs received | Number of cases with a will | Number of cases without a will (Note) |
| 2023 | 5 417 | 177 | 5 240 |
| 2024 | 4 799 | 151 | 4 648 |
| 2025 | 4 841 | 147 | 4 694 |
Regarding the processing time of an application, the EBSU undertakes to issue a CN within 12 working days after receipt of an application and all required documents and information submitted by the applicant. The average processing time is approximately 10 working days for applications with a will as well as those without a will.
(3) Upon issuance of a "Certificate for Necessity of Inspection of Bank Deposit Box", officers from the EBSU will be deployed to witness the inspection of the bank deposit box of the deceased, and to prepare and sign the inventory list. Over the past three years, the number of cases in which a will was found in the bank deposit boxes during the inspection process is set out below:
| Year | Total number of inspection cases (per deceased person) |
Number of cases with a will found |
Percentage of cases with a will found |
| 2023 | 3 559 | 138 | 3.9% |
| 2024 | 3 441 | 139 | 4% |
| 2025 | 3 266 | 152 | 4.7% |
(4) and (5) The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) noted that will registration databases (databases) have been established in some places. They are mostly led and run by relevant institutions in the legal or notarial professions, and vary in their purposes of establishment, functions and coverage.
These databases are mainly for authorised persons to search for will-related information after the testator's death, and in most cases, the registration and uploading of information have to be carried out through the professionals (e.g. the will has to be processed by solicitors or notaries). The registration records in the database themselves do not constitute authentication of the wills, and will not affect the associated inheritance rights.
In Hong Kong, under the existing Wills Ordinance (Cap. 30), the legal validity of a will hinges on various factors, including whether the relevant statutory formalities were met at the time when it was made. Will registration cannot replace the function of will documents in legal proceedings. A registered will does not serve to confirm the authenticity and validity of the will, nor rule out the existence of other unregistered or subsequently made wills. The Probate Registry or the HAD still need to examine the relevant will documents when processing applications relating to inheritance. Therefore, introducing similar databases may not necessarily provide additional legal protection for heirs of the estate. It also requires further study on whether such databases could provide any material support to confirm the authenticity of a will. The HYAB will closely monitor the development of probate and estate administration systems in other regions, and continue to enhance public understanding of wills making through various channels.
Ends/Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:10
Issued at HKT 12:10
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