My girlfriends brother died a while back and she doesn’t have or can remember the key pad code. I see cannon has a request form but they will only have the code if he registered it. What are the chances a lock smith can get in the safe without destroying it?

If he registered it you're most likely going to need a death certificate and some sort of legal documentation to have the manufacturer play ball with you on that. If they can give you the keypad code its not going to be any help if he ever changed it just what it came delivered with.

Asking a locksmith will probably be the least headache route but not sure if they would just come crack open a safe hypothetically in the middle of your garage for liability reasons. I know my local locksmith won't even touch my entry doors if I lock myself out of the house without my drivers license on hand.

If you can find a good locksmith that's actually willing to unlock it for you, it will be amazing how fast they will have it open.

Is this one of those safes that you can pull the electronic pad off and theres a keyed lock underneath? Friend has one.
His brother passed away and moved the safe with guns to his house and the neighbors key worked. Same safe, same model.

Most Cannons don’t have that option.  The main reason I never bought one.

I took a sentry safe that was being scraped, laid it on its back and cut the bottom off with a plasma cutter, removed contents, crawled inside, removed the back of the door, remove the locking electronics and opened the door. Later the owner welded the bottom back on and replaced the lock. Not even worthy of starting a safe thread.

I would try things like birthdays in the family, last 6 of his SSN or Driver's license number things like that.

May get lucky that way!

I figured they would need the death certificate at the very least. I feel bad for her. Her brother died over a year ago. I don’t bring the safe up, but when she does I ask her all the questions that I would have made the code and she gets sad. She wants to try and keep the safe, so might try and find someone local here that will help and not destroy it.

Will def try and go this route again.

My kids messed with my electronic keypad and it stopped working.  New keypad they sent me wouldn’t work so I called a locksmith that specializes in large safes.  He brought a bore scope and was able to fish it down to view the master code on the locking mechanism inside the safe door.  Once we had that he reset the new keypad and opened the door.  He told me they all put the master code on the electronic locking mechanism.  Good luck!