Blended family plans fail in a predictable way: everything goes to the surviving spouse, who is trusted to pass it on to the first family, and does not. Ontario law also gives a surviving spouse claims that override your will. Build for that, not around it.
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Marriage no longer revokes a will in Ontario. The rule was repealed effective 1 January 2022. Before that, marrying wiped out an existing will unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage. Now the will you signed during your first marriage remains in force after your second wedding, in the form you left it: your former spouse possibly still named, your new spouse mentioned nowhere. Nothing tells you.
Separation cuts the other way. Amendments to the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90s26">Succession Law Reform Act</a> now treat a separated spouse as having died first for the purposes of gifts and appointments under a will, and remove their entitlement on an intestacy, where the separation meets defined criteria such as living separate and apart for a set period or having a separation agreement, court order or family arbitration award.
If you die without a will, the Succession Law Reform Act decides who inherits and the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90e21">Estates Act</a> decides who is entitled to be appointed estate trustee. A married spouse takes a preferential share off the top and then shares the residue with the children. A common-law partner inherits nothing on an intestacy in Ontario, however long you lived together and whatever you told each other.
The classic blended-family failure is the mutual leave-it-all-to-each-other will. The survivor can remarry, can sign a new will the week after the funeral, can be influenced by their own children, and can spend the capital. Nothing in your will binds them once they own the assets outright. If the first family's inheritance matters to you, it has to be structured, not promised.
A married spouse can reject what the will provides and elect instead to take an equalization payment under the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90f03">Family Law Act</a>. The election must be made within six months of the date of death. Where the marriage was short and the wealth was built long before it, the claim may be modest. Where it was long, it can absorb most of what you meant for the children.
Equalization measures the growth in each spouse's net worth during the marriage, and the matrimonial home is treated specially: a spouse who owned the home on the valuation date generally cannot deduct its value at the date of marriage. In second marriages this catches the person who brought the house and let the new spouse move in. The house they owned first ends up fully in the calculation.
Separately, Part V of the Succession Law Reform Act lets a dependant apply for support out of the estate. The category is wider than people expect and includes a spouse, a former spouse, a child, a parent or a sibling the deceased was supporting or was legally obliged to support. On such an application the court can look past the estate at assets that passed by survivorship or by beneficiary designation.
The practical consequence lands on the estate trustee. Distributing before the election period and the dependant support period have run can mean paying twice, personally. In a blended family with a surviving spouse and adult children from a first marriage, that risk is real rather than theoretical, and the trustee is often one of the interested parties.
A spousal trust is the standard answer. Your spouse receives the income for life, and the right to live in the home on stated terms, with the capital passing to your children when the spouse dies. Structured properly it also defers the tax that would otherwise arise at your death. The trustee choice matters more than the drafting; naming the spouse and the first family's children as co-trustees builds the fight into the document.
A marriage contract signed before or during the second marriage can address property claims and the election directly. It needs full financial disclosure on both sides and independent legal advice for each spouse, or it is vulnerable to being set aside later, which is exactly when it is being relied on. Do it early, and do it properly, or do not rely on it at all.
Life insurance is the cleanest way to fund one side of the family without splitting the other side's asset. Proceeds paid to a named beneficiary pass outside the estate and outside the estate administration tax calculation. While you are at it, pull the beneficiary designations on every registered plan and policy: those override the will, and a designation naming a first spouse from 1998 is a common and expensive discovery.
Then be explicit. Say who gets the house, who gets the cottage, who gets the family items, and consider telling the adult children while you are alive. Consider separate estate trustees where interests conflict. Our published fee for wills and estates work is $563.87, taxes included; see the <a href="/pricing">pricing page</a> and <a href="/wills-estates">wills and estates</a> for how we handle blended family files.
Yes. Since 1 January 2022, marriage no longer revokes a will in Ontario, so the old document still speaks, including any gift to a former spouse and any appointment of them as estate trustee. That is usually the opposite of what people assume. Have it reviewed and replaced rather than relying on the wedding to have cancelled it.
Yes, and it is common in second marriages. The will can give your spouse a right to occupy the home for life or for a defined period, with the property passing to your children afterwards. Address who pays taxes, insurance, utilities and major repairs, and what happens if your spouse moves out, remarries or needs long-term care.
No. Ontario's intestacy rules under the Succession Law Reform Act apply to married spouses. A common-law partner receives nothing automatically, regardless of how long you lived together. They may be able to claim dependant support out of the estate, or advance a trust claim, but that is litigation. A will and proper designations avoid the problem entirely.
To an extent, yes. A married spouse can elect within six months of death to take an equalization payment under the Family Law Act instead of the gift in your will, and a dependant can apply for support out of the estate. Neither rewrites your will, but both can change how much is actually left for everyone else.
Recent amendments to the Succession Law Reform Act treat a separated spouse as having predeceased for gifts and appointments, and remove intestate entitlement, where the separation meets defined criteria. Whether your situation qualifies depends on the length of separation and whether there is a separation agreement, order or award. Do not rely on it; sign a new will.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.