Can two competing court applications over the same will be consolidated in Ontario?

Yes. Where two or more separate court applications have been started over the same estate or the same will — for example, competing probate applications, or a probate application alongside a separate objection proceeding — an Ontario court can consolidate them into a single proceeding, or at least manage them together, rather than having the same underlying issues litigated twice in parallel, potentially with inconsistent results.

Courts generally favour consolidation in this situation because running duplicate proceedings wastes both the parties' and the court's resources, increases the risk of contradictory findings on the same facts, and can create confusion about which decision actually governs the estate. A party can bring a motion asking the court to consolidate the applications, and the court will look at whether the proceedings raise genuinely overlapping issues and whether combining them would be more efficient without unfairly prejudicing anyone. Once consolidated, the matter typically proceeds as a single case with a single set of evidence and a single hearing or trial addressing all the competing positions together. If you're involved in more than one proceeding touching the same estate, raise consolidation with your lawyer early, since it can meaningfully reduce cost and delay.