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Sussex County Register of Wills moves to digital system

If there’s a will, Sussex County has it stored in a new WAY thanks to a major document conversion and retention project.

The Sussex County Register of Wills office recently completed a four-and-a-half-year-long project to scan more than 45,000 hard copies of wills dating back more than 60 years. Data Management Internationale in Wilmington scanned all the paper file to get them into digital format.

 

"It's a process that as the computer age came on, the Register of Wills the Register of Wills did not get us all online or whatever. It was just a slow process," said Register of Wills Cindy Green. "When I was elected (in 2010), and went in there and saw that were were still doing things in paper form, I realized we needed to get it on digital."

 

Green sees it as a necessary move for the office.

 

"So that it can be protected," said Green "If there would be a fire or water damage, it would be protected. And it also has it so there is access to it without having to physically pull the file."

Green says with the project complete, wills recorded in Sussex County dating back to 1956 are now digitally preserved. Documents before 1956 remain on file with the Delaware Public Archives.

 

The digital repository of wills is available for the public to view through a computer terminal in the Register of Wills office during regular business hours, while law offices will be able to view documents remotely anytime with a subscription service.

 

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.