Almost every expensive estate problem we see started as a cheap one: no will, an old will, or a will that said something the family did not expect.
Our wills & estates work starts at $563.87, taxes included and published on our pricing page. Disbursements and government fees are extra and billed at cost.
A will appoints your estate trustee, sets out who receives what, and can appoint a guardian for minor children. It is governed by the Succession Law Reform Act.
A great deal of wealth passes outside the will and is untouched by it. Property held in joint tenancy with a right of survivorship goes to the survivor. Registered plans and insurance with a named beneficiary go to that beneficiary. A will that carefully divides an estate three ways can be almost entirely bypassed by a few beneficiary designations nobody revisited.
A will also cannot defeat every claim. A surviving spouse has rights regardless of what the will says, including the ability to elect an equalization entitlement under the Family Law Act within six months of death. Dependants may also have claims for support.
Ontario requires a will to be in writing and signed, and — for the ordinary formal will — witnessed by two witnesses present together, neither of whom is a beneficiary or the spouse of one.
That last point catches people constantly. A gift to a witness, or to a witness's spouse, is vulnerable. Having the neighbour who happens to be in the will act as a witness is one of the most common home-made will failures.
A guardian appointment in a will is influential but not absolute. Under the Children's Law Reform Act a testamentary appointment is effective for a limited period — 90 days — after which a court application is needed to make it permanent.
Separation, a new relationship, a birth, a death among your named people, a significant change in assets, or moving provinces are all triggers to look again.
Two Ontario changes are worth knowing. Since 1 January 2022, marriage no longer revokes a will — the old rule that caught out remarried people is gone. And separation for a defined period can now revoke gifts to a separated spouse. Advice written before 2022 may say the opposite.
No, but the failures we see in home-made wills are consistent: improper witnessing, gifts to witnesses, unclear residue clauses, and assets that pass outside the will entirely.
Not since 1 January 2022. That rule was repealed. A new spouse still acquires rights against your estate regardless of what the will says.
You can, but it is not absolute. Spouses have statutory entitlements and dependants may claim support. Disinheriting someone is a drafting exercise, not a sentence.
A beneficiary or a beneficiary's spouse. A gift to a witness is vulnerable to being void, even where the will itself stands.
Our wills and estates work starts at $563.87, taxes included, published on our pricing page.
Government sources for this topic. Rules change — confirm the current position before you rely on it.
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