To represent the indirect lifecycle binding between the validity of data for a given topic, and the presence of sessions responsible for updating the data associated with that topic, sessions may register a policy referred to herein as a “session will” against specific nodes in the topic tree maintained by a data distribution system server. A session will binds the lifecycle of the topic node to that of the registering session. When a session that is responsible for updating a particular topic is disconnected, the data distribution system server initiates actions in accordance with the session will to determine how to manage updating the topic and the sub-topics in the topic path.