How to Change or Revoke a Will in Ontario: Codicils, New Wills, and What Not to Do

Life moves faster than most people update their wills. A new grandchild arrives, a marriage ends, you sell the family cottage, or a named executor moves across the country. Whatever the trigger, the question is the same: how do you change or revoke a will in Ontario without creating a legal mess for the people you leave behind?

The short answer is that Ontario law gives you several valid methods — and at least one very common shortcut that simply does not work. This article walks through each option so you can make a clean, legally effective change.

Ways to Revoke a Will Entirely

1. Make a New Will with a Revocation Clause

The cleanest method is to sign a brand-new will that contains an explicit revocation clause — typically a sentence near the top that reads something like: "I revoke all former wills and codicils." Once the new will is properly executed (signed by you in the presence of two witnesses who also sign), the old will is legally cancelled.

This approach leaves no doubt about which document governs your estate. It also lets you do a thorough review of every clause rather than patching one piece and hoping the rest still fits.

2. Physically Destroy the Document

Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act recognises deliberate physical destruction — burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the will — as a valid act of revocation, provided the destruction is intentional and done by you (or by someone else in your presence and at your direction). The key word is intentional: an accidentally shredded will is a different problem entirely (more on that below).

Practical caution: destroying a will without signing a new one leaves you intestate. That means Ontario's default rules decide who inherits — which may not reflect your wishes at all.

3. Revocation by Operation of Law

Historically in Ontario, marriage automatically revoked an existing will. That rule still appears in older estate plans drafted before legislative changes narrowed it. As of writing — verify the current state of the law when you speak with a lawyer — marriage no longer automatically revokes a will in Ontario following reforms to the Succession Law Reform Act. However, separation and divorce can affect gifts to a former spouse and their appointment as executor, so a relationship breakdown is always a trigger to review (and likely replace) your will promptly.

Partial Changes: The Codicil

What Is a Codicil?

A codicil is a separate legal document that amends a specific part of an existing will without replacing the whole thing. Think of it as an addendum: it refers to the original will, identifies what is being changed or added, and leaves everything else intact.

Formalities Are the Same as a Will

A codicil must be executed with exactly the same formalities as the will itself: you sign it in the presence of two witnesses, both of whom also sign in your presence. The witnesses should not be beneficiaries under the will or the codicil. There is no shortcut here — an informal note stapled to your will does not become a valid codicil just because you intended it to.

When a Codicil Makes Sense

• You want to change a single executor or substitute guardian without revisiting anything else.
• The will is otherwise current and the change is genuinely narrow.
• You want a lower-cost option for a straightforward amendment.

When a Fresh Will Is Better

• You have more than one or two changes to make — multiple codicils layered onto an old will create a patchwork that can confuse executors and lead to interpretation disputes.
• The original will is old enough that other provisions may also be stale.
• You are updating beneficiaries after a divorce or death in the family — the emotional stakes argue for a clean document.

In practice, most estate lawyers recommend a new will unless the codicil is genuinely simple and the existing will is recent and otherwise sound.

What Does NOT Work: Writing on Your Existing Will

This is the most common mistake. Many people assume they can cross out a name, write a new dollar amount in the margin, or add a note initialled by themselves and it will carry legal weight. In Ontario, it will not — at least not for a formally executed (typed and witnessed) will.

Ontario does recognise holograph wills — documents written entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you, with no witnesses required. In theory, a handwritten change could be read as a separate holograph document. In practice, writing on a printed will creates dangerous ambiguity: courts have to decide whether the alterations were made before or after execution, whether they constitute a valid holograph, and whether they override the typed text or sit alongside it. The result is litigation that costs your estate far more than a properly drafted new will ever would.

The rule: if you want to change a typed, witnessed will, you need either a new will or a properly executed codicil. Do not mark up the original.

What Happens When a Later Will Does Not Expressly Revoke the Earlier One?

If someone signs a second will without a clear revocation clause, both wills can remain in force simultaneously. Courts read them together and attempt to give effect to both. Where the two documents conflict, the later document generally controls — but determining where the conflict lies can require court interpretation, which is time-consuming and expensive for your estate.

The practical lesson: always include an explicit revocation clause in any new will, and never assume a later document automatically displaces an earlier one.

The Lost Will Problem

If an original will cannot be found after a testator's death, Ontario courts apply a presumption of revocation: if the will was last known to be in the testator's possession and cannot be located, the inference is that the testator destroyed it intentionally. This presumption can be rebutted with evidence, but rebutting it in court is difficult and expensive.

What this means for you: keep your original will somewhere secure and accessible — a fireproof home safe, a safety deposit box, or with your lawyer — and make sure your executor knows where it is. Do not keep only a photocopy.

Practical Guidance: Fresh Will or Codicil?

A will review every three to five years — or after any major life event — is good practice. Ontario estates lawyers can complete a straightforward will update in a single appointment.

Frequently asked questions