Saskatchewan's Wills Act, 1996 requires two witnesses present at the same time for a formal will, allows a holograph will with no witnesses, and permits electronic witnessing only with a lawyer as one witness.
Applies in: Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan wills are governed by The Wills Act, 1996. A formal will under section 7 must be in writing, signed by you (or by another person in your presence and by your direction), with your signature made or acknowledged in the presence of two or more witnesses who are with you at the same time, and at least two of those witnesses must attest and sign the will, or acknowledge their signatures, in your presence. A holograph will under section 8 is the other route: wholly in your handwriting and signed by you, with no witnesses and no further formality. This guide covers the signing process only. It gives no advice on what your will should say.
Section 4 of the Act sets the age floor in plain terms: a will is not valid unless it is made by a person 18 years of age or more, unless provided otherwise by the Act. Two provisions provide otherwise. Section 5 says the will of a person made while that person is or was married or cohabiting in a spousal relationship is not invalid because he or she was under 18. Section 6 lets a member of the armed forces in actual service, or a sailor in the course of a voyage, make a will in writing signed by them or by another person in their presence and by their direction, with no further formality and no witness requirement, and such a will is not invalid for being made under 18.
Formal will (section 7). The typed or printed will, signed in a single sitting with your witnesses. The mechanics are in Step 3.
Holograph will (section 8). Section 8 reads: a holograph will, wholly in the handwriting of the testator and signed by him or her, may be made without any further formality or any requirement as to the presence of or attestation or signature by a witness. The Government of Saskatchewan's Making a Will page fills in how that plays out: the will must be completely in your handwriting or printed by hand — it cannot be typed out, even partially — you must clearly indicate who you are leaving property to, you must sign and date the will, and it must be clear that you wanted to make a will.
A fill-in-the-blanks printed will kit is not a holograph will, because part of the document is typed. It would have to be signed as a formal will instead.
Section 7(1) lists four conditions, and a formal will is not valid unless all of them are met:
Section 7(2) removes one worry: no particular form of attestation by the witnesses is necessary. Section 10 adds that no publication of the will is required for it to be valid.
Section 13 of the Act is the trap. If a person attests the execution of your will and, by the terms of the will, that person or his or her spouse at that time is given an interest — a beneficial gift of real or personal property, other than charges and directions for paying a debt — that interest is void respecting the witness, the spouse, and anyone claiming under either of them. Two qualifications sit inside the section: the interest is not void where the will is sufficiently attested without that person's attestation, or where no attestation was necessary, and a court may declare the interest not void where it is satisfied no improper or undue influence was exercised, on an application brought within six months from the grant of probate or of administration with the will annexed.
Neighbouring sections clear two other candidates. Section 14 says a creditor whose debt is charged on property in the will, or the creditor's spouse, is still competent as a witness. Section 15 says a person is not incompetent as a witness solely because he or she is an executor. And section 12 says that if a witness later becomes incompetent to prove the execution, the will is not invalid for that reason. The practical pick stays the same everywhere: two witnesses who receive nothing under the will and are not married to anyone who does.
Saskatchewan allows electronic witnessing on conditions. Under section 7(3), "in the presence of" includes attendance by electronic means — defined in section 2 as an electronic means of communication that includes visual aspects by which you and the witnesses can adequately communicate with each other at all times during the meeting — if one of the witnesses is a lawyer. The lawyer who witnesses the will must take all reasonable steps by electronic means to verify your identity and to confirm the contents of the will, and must comply with all requirements established by the Law Society of Saskatchewan related to the witnessing of a will by electronic means. A video signing with two lay witnesses and no lawyer does not meet section 7(3).
Section 11 governs alterations. An obliteration, interlineation, cancellation by drawing lines across part of the will, or any other alteration made after execution has no effect — except where the words before the alteration are no longer apparent — unless the alteration is itself executed in accordance with the Act, with your signature and the witnesses' subscription made in the margin or near the alteration, or at the foot of a memorandum referring to it. An alteration can also be made with no witnesses at all under section 11(3), if it is wholly in your handwriting and signed by you. Section 16 limits revocation to another will executed under the Act, a writing declaring an intention to revoke that is executed under the Act, or the other methods that section lists.
The Government of Saskatchewan points people who want a simple will at its Creating a Will Self-Help Kit, while stating plainly that the kit is not designed for complex wills involving estate planning, tax planning, or complicated divisions of property, and that it is usually a good idea to talk to a lawyer before making a will.
The Wills Act, 1996 sets the execution rules but does not set a fee for making a will or a registry where an ordinary will must be filed, so this guide states neither. The Act's registration system in sections 46 to 51 covers international wills only. The Government of Saskatchewan page does not state a price for the Self-Help Kit or the wills template it links. Section 37's substantial compliance order is a court decision after death; the Act does not state the cost of that application or how a given document will be treated, so this guide gives neither.
18. Section 4 of The Wills Act, 1996 says a will is not valid unless it is made by a person 18 years of age or more, unless the Act provides otherwise. It does, twice. Under section 5, a will made by someone who is or was married, or living in a spousal relationship, stands even if they were under 18 when they signed it. Section 6 covers sailors and members of the armed forces in actual service, whose wills are also not invalid for age.
Yes. Section 8 of the Act covers the holograph will: a document wholly in the testator's own handwriting and signed by the testator is a valid will with no witness at all and no further steps. The Government of Saskatchewan's wills page fills in the practical edges. Nothing in the document can be typed, even partly, though printing by hand is fine. Sign it, date it, say clearly who gets what, and make it plain that you meant to make a will.
Two or more, for a formal will — and they have to be in the room together. Section 7(1) asks for this: you sign the will, or acknowledge your signature, while two or more witnesses are with you at the same time, and at least two of them then sign the will themselves, or acknowledge their signatures, while you are present. One witness on Monday and a second on Wednesday fails the section. Section 7(2) adds a small mercy: no set form of attestation wording is required.
They can sign as a witness, but they lose the gift. Section 13 says that when a witness — or the witness's spouse at the time — is given an interest under the will, that interest is void for the witness, the spouse, and anyone claiming through either of them. The will itself stays valid, and the witness can still prove it was signed properly. There are two narrow escapes: the interest survives if the will was sufficiently attested without that witness anyway, and a court can declare the interest not void if satisfied no improper or undue influence was exercised — but that application has to be made within six months from the grant of probate.
Yes, if a lawyer is one of the witnesses. Section 7(3) counts attendance by electronic means as being present, on conditions: one witness must be a lawyer, that lawyer must take all reasonable steps over the link to confirm who the testator is and what the will says, and the lawyer must follow the Law Society of Saskatchewan's requirements for remote witnessing. Section 2 defines the link itself — it has to include a visual side, so testator and witnesses can communicate adequately throughout. The same lawyer condition applies when an alteration is witnessed remotely, under section 11(2.1).
A court can still give it effect. Section 37 lets the court order that a document counts fully as the deceased's will even though it missed some of the Act's formal requirements, where the court is satisfied the document embodies the deceased's testamentary intentions. Saskatchewan lawyers call this the substantial compliance power, and the section is titled that way in the Act. It is a court application after death, argued by your estate — a backstop for a signing that went wrong, not a signing method to plan around.