How to write a will in Ontario: the formal and holograph will rules in the Succession Law Reform Act, choosing an executor, signing and witnessing, and storing and updating the will.
Applies in: Ontario
A will is a written document that sets out who inherits your property, possessions, and other personal items after you die. In Ontario, the rules for making a valid will come from the Succession Law Reform Act. This guide covers the process only — the steps to write, sign, witness, store, and update a will. It is not legal advice, and it does not tell you what to leave to whom. If your situation is complicated — a blended family, a business, property outside Ontario, a child with a disability, or any doubt about whether your wishes will hold up — talk to an Ontario wills lawyer before you sign anything. Ontario.ca says the same thing: if you have questions about your will, consult a lawyer.
Before you write anything, make a plain list:
A will speaks as if it had been made immediately before your death, so it covers property you acquire after you sign it, not just what you own today. That is why the list matters more than the exact wording of each gift: the list is what you will work from when you write the will.
Your estate trustee — often still called the executor — is the person who carries out the will: gathering your property, paying debts, and distributing what is left. Ontario.ca describes the estate trustee as your personal representative, the person authorized to administer your estate. Pick someone you trust to handle paperwork and money carefully, who is likely to outlive you, and who lives close enough to deal with Ontario institutions. Name a backup in case your first choice cannot or will not act.
Tell both people you have named them, and tell them where the signed original will be kept. A will nobody can find is no better than no will: Ontario.ca notes that a copy of a will may be in the person's home, in a safety deposit box, or with their lawyer, and that you can check with the estates division of the local Ontario court to find out if a will has been filed.
Ontario recognizes two routes, and the choice decides what the signing looks like.
A formal will is the standard route and the one a lawyer will normally prepare. The document can be typed or printed. Under section 4 of the Succession Law Reform Act, it is valid only if:
No particular form of attestation is needed — the witnesses do not have to sign a special declaration, just subscribe the will.
A holograph will is a will written wholly in your own handwriting and signed by you. Under section 6 of the Succession Law Reform Act, it needs no witnesses and no other formality. "Wholly" is the catch: a typed document with a handwritten signature is not a holograph will, and a pre-printed will form filled in by hand is not one either. Use a holograph will only as a stopgap — for example, if you cannot reach a lawyer or two witnesses in time — and replace it with a formal will as soon as you can, because unclear handwriting or wording is harder for a court to interpret after you die.
One more limit: an electronic will is not valid in Ontario. The court's power to validate a badly executed document does not extend to electronic wills.
The signing is where most homemade wills fail, so follow the order exactly.
If you sign by video, the extra rule applies: at least one witness must be a lawyer or paralegal licensed under the Law Society Act, and the signing and witnessing must happen at the same time, with each person signing identical copies that together form the one will.
Tell your estate trustee where the signed original is, and keep it somewhere they can reach without a court order after your death. Common choices are with your lawyer, in a fireproof box at home that your estate trustee can open, or in a safety deposit box — but check that your estate trustee can get into the box, since a bank may need proof of authority first. Keep a photocopy for yourself, clearly marked as a copy, and keep the original separate from the copy so nobody mistakes one for the other.
If you die without a will, your estate is distributed according to the Succession Law Reform Act rather than your wishes, and the court may have to appoint someone to administer it. Ontario.ca notes that a court may need to grant probate — confirming the estate trustee's authority, or authorizing a person to act as estate trustee — and that if there is no known next-of-kin in Ontario, the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee may end up administering the estate.
Review your will after every major change: marriage, divorce, separation, the birth or adoption of a child, a death among your beneficiaries or your estate trustee, buying or selling a home, or a big change in what you own. Two rules from the Act matter here:
To change a will, make a new will or a codicil executed with the same formalities. Do not cross out lines or write in the margins of a signed will: an alteration made after signing has no effect unless it is executed like a will, with your signature and the witnesses' signatures beside or near the change, or at the end of a note in the will that refers to the change. To cancel a will entirely, make a new will, sign a written declaration of revocation executed like a will, or destroy the will by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying it with the intention of revoking it. A revoked will can only be brought back by a new will, a codicil showing that intention, or re-signing it with the required formalities.
If a will was not properly executed, the Superior Court of Justice can still order it valid if it is satisfied the document sets out the deceased person's testamentary intentions. That power applies only where the person died on or after January 1, 2022, and it is a court application by your family after your death — not something to rely on when a proper signing would have avoided the problem.
The cost of having a lawyer draft a will in Ontario was not published on the Ontario.ca pages or the Succession Law Reform Act text, so this guide states no lawyer fee and no will-kit price. Probate court fees — the fees to apply for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee — were also not verified on the official pages, so no probate fee is stated here. Confirm both with the lawyer you consult or with the Ontario court office before relying on any figure. The Ontario.ca pages also did not publish a checklist of what an estate trustee must do after a death, so this guide does not list those steps.
Under the Succession Law Reform Act, a will must be in writing. A formal will must be signed at its end by you (or by someone in your presence and at your direction), you must make or acknowledge that signature in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, and at least two of those witnesses must sign the will in your presence. A holograph will is the exception: it must be wholly in your own handwriting and signed by you, with no witnesses and no other formality. A signature must be placed so it is clear you intended it to give effect to the writing as your will, and anything written below the signature does not take effect.
You must be 18 or older. A will made by someone under 18 is not valid unless, when making it, the person is or has been married, is contemplating marriage to a named person and the will says so (and the marriage then takes place), is a member of a regular force or on active service with the Canadian Forces, or is a sailor at sea or on a voyage. Members of the Canadian Forces on active service, members of other forces on active service, and sailors at sea may also make a will by a writing signed by them without any witnesses.
A formal will is the standard route: the document can be typed or printed, and it must be signed at its end in front of two witnesses who are present at the same time and who then sign it in your presence. A holograph will must be written wholly in your own handwriting from start to finish and signed by you — no witnesses are needed. A typed document with a handwritten signature is not a holograph will, so it needs the two witnesses. Holograph wills are the riskier route: unclear wording is harder to fix after you die, and a court may have to interpret it.
Do not name a witness as a beneficiary. If a will is witnessed by a person to whom, or to whose spouse, the will gives property, that gift is void as far as it concerns the witness, the spouse, or anyone claiming under them — although the witness can still prove the will was properly signed. The exception is narrow: the gift stands if the Superior Court of Justice is satisfied that neither the witness nor the spouse exercised improper or undue influence over you. An estate trustee (executor) can act as a witness without that alone making them unable to prove the will.
Yes, in limited circumstances. The Succession Law Reform Act allows the witnessing requirements to be met through audio-visual communication technology if at least one witness is a lawyer or paralegal licensed under the Law Society Act, the signing and witnessing happen at the same time, and any regulatory requirements are met. Each person can sign identical copies of the will in counterpart, and together those copies form the one will. If no licensed lawyer or paralegal is a witness, the signing must happen in person.
Make a new will that follows the same signing and witnessing rules, or make a codicil — a written change that is itself executed like a will. A will can also be revoked by a signed writing that declares the intention to revoke and is executed like a will, or by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying it with the intention of revoking it. Changes scribbled on a will after it is signed have no effect unless they are executed like a will, with your signature and the witnesses' signatures beside or near the change. Marriage no longer revokes a will, but divorce or a qualifying separation does revoke gifts to a former spouse and their appointment as estate trustee, unless the will says otherwise. A will that was revoked can only be revived by a new will, a codicil showing that intention, or re-execution with the required formalities.