How to Write a Valid Will in Ontario

A retired nurse in Mississauga sits at her kitchen table with two of her adult neighbours and a single-page will she printed off her laptop. She signs at the bottom, the neighbours sign as witnesses while she watches, and the document goes into a labelled envelope in the desk drawer. Total time: eight minutes. The will is legally valid in Ontario the moment the last signature is dry. The complexity behind those eight minutes is what this article is for — the requirements you do need to get right, the optional pieces that matter, and the changes that came in on January 1, 2022.

Ontario's will rules sit in the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA).^[1] Three formal categories of will are valid here, and a fourth pathway — substantial compliance — was added in 2022 to soften the consequences of getting one of the formalities wrong.

The legal floor: age and capacity #

The general minimum age for an Ontario will is 18. The SLRA carves out a few narrow exceptions: a person who is or has been married, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces on active service, or a member of a merchant vessel at sea. Outside those situations, a document signed by anyone under 18 generally has no legal effect.

Mental capacity is the second floor. Ontario courts apply the Banks v Goodfellow test — the testator must have understood that they were making a will, the nature of their property, the people who might reasonably expect to inherit, and the effect of the gifts they were making. Capacity is judged at the moment of signing, not before or after. Where capacity is contested, the lawyer's drafting notes and any medical assessment around the time of execution become decisive.

Format 1: Formal (attested) will #

The standard format covers most Ontario wills. The SLRA's section 4 requirements:

1. The will is in writing.
2. The testator signs at the end of the will (or someone else signs at the testator's direction and in the testator's presence).
3. Two witnesses are present at the same time and watch the testator sign (or watch the testator acknowledge their signature).
4. Both witnesses then sign the will, with both still present and in front of the testator.

The witnessing has to be simultaneous. Two witnesses signing at different times generally invalidates the will under strict section 4 — though section 21.1 substantial compliance now gives the court a path to save it.

Section 4 of the SLRA also now allows audio-visual technology — video call witnessing — to satisfy the requirement that everyone be "in the presence of" each other, provided at least one witness is a licenced Ontario lawyer or paralegal.^[1] The change was originally a COVID-era emergency measure and was made permanent through Bill 245.

Who can and cannot be a witness. Any mentally capable adult can witness a will. But under SLRA section 12, a gift to a witness or to a witness's spouse is generally void, even though the rest of the will is still valid. The practical rule: never let a beneficiary, or the spouse of a beneficiary, sign as a witness. Neighbours, coworkers, or two non-beneficiary friends are the standard choice.

Affidavit of execution. Not strictly required for the will to be valid, but Ontario courts ask for one during probate. The affidavit is sworn by one of the two witnesses confirming they saw the testator sign and that everything happened the way section 4 requires. Many drafting lawyers prepare it at the same sitting as the will signing, so it is ready when probate comes. Without an affidavit, the executor often has to track down the witnesses years later — sometimes after one of them has died.

Format 2: Holograph will #

Section 6 of the SLRA allows a will "wholly by his or her own handwriting and signature, without formality, and without the presence, attestation or signature of a witness."^[1] Three things to know about Ontario holograph wills:

• The text has to be entirely in the testator's own handwriting. A fill-in-the-blank template, a printed document with handwritten additions, or a typed will signed in handwriting will generally not qualify as a holograph.
• The signature is required, but no specific placement is prescribed — case law generally requires the signature to be in a position that shows the testator intended it as their signature for the entire document.
• No witnesses are needed and no formalities apply beyond the handwriting-and-signature requirement.

Holograph wills are valid but high-friction at probate. The court typically wants evidence that the document is in the testator's handwriting and was intended as a will. They are the right tool for an emergency — someone in a remote location, an unexpected hospital admission — and the wrong tool for a long-term plan.

Format 3: Members of the Canadian Forces and seafaring testators #

The SLRA preserves a separate category for active-duty military members and seafaring testators that relaxes formalities further. Rarely relevant for civilian planning.

Format 4: Substantial compliance under section 21.1 (for deaths on or after January 1, 2022) #

Before 2022, Ontario was a strict-compliance province — any defect in execution was fatal to the will. Bill 245 added section 21.1, which lets the Superior Court of Justice validate a document that does not meet the strict formalities, as long as the court is satisfied the document sets out the testamentary intentions of the deceased.^[2]

Two important limits:

• Electronic wills are excluded. A will stored only as a digital file with no paper version remains invalid in Ontario, even under section 21.1.
• The death must be on or after January 1, 2022. Wills of testators who died earlier are still judged under the old strict-compliance regime.

Section 21.1 has been applied by Ontario courts since 2022 to validate documents that would have been thrown out under the prior law — signed but unwitnessed drafts, signed by only one witness, drafts found among the deceased's papers. The applications are not cheap. They are a way to save a botched will at probate, not a substitute for executing the will properly.

What an Ontario will needs in substance #

The formalities are only half of the work. The contents matter at least as much:

• An executor (called an "estate trustee" in Ontario) and at least one alternate. The estate trustee handles probate, gathers assets, pays debts, files the deceased's final T1, and distributes the residue per the will. Choosing an executor who is willing, capable, and likely to outlive you is the single most important judgment call in a will.
• A guardian for any minor children, and a custodian for any property left to them. Ontario courts give significant weight to a guardian named in the will, though the appointment is subject to confirmation in family court and the best-interests-of-the-child standard.
• A residuary clause that catches anything not specifically named. A will without a residue clause partially intestate — the named bequests stand, but anything left over passes by the intestacy rules in SLRA Part II.
• Specific bequests for items that matter (jewellery, the cottage, the family business shares).
• A backup plan if a beneficiary dies before you. Either an alternate beneficiary or a per stirpes / per capita instruction.
• Funeral and final-disposition wishes at a high level.

Things that should NOT be in an Ontario will: PINs, passwords, exact bank account numbers, or anything else that becomes a public document once the will is probated. The will is on the public record at probate and is searchable. Sensitive operational details belong in a separate document for the executor — what the Life Discovery Kit inside the It's Simple Will product covers.

Updating an Ontario will #

Marriage on or after January 1, 2022 no longer revokes a will in Ontario.^[2] Wills made before that date were generally revoked by a subsequent marriage and would need to be redone after the wedding. Divorce in Ontario still revokes provisions in favour of a former spouse — the rest of the will stays valid, but the gifts to the former spouse are read as if the spouse had predeceased.

Anything more than a small change usually warrants a fresh will rather than a codicil. Codicils are valid in Ontario but introduce their own probate complexity (the executor has to prove both documents); for online wills, redoing the whole document is generally cleaner.

The practical review cycle is every three to five years, plus after any of: marriage or divorce, birth or adoption, death of a beneficiary, sale or purchase of major property, becoming a business owner, becoming a Canadian resident or moving out, or major changes in your family situation.

Where Ontario wills go to be stored #

There is no central will registry in Ontario. The Superior Court of Justice maintains a record of probated wills but does not register unprobated wills. Common storage choices:

• The drafting lawyer's vault (most lawyers offer this at no charge)
• A safety deposit box (with arrangements for the executor to access it after death)
• A fireproof home safe with the executor told the location and combination
• The provincial law society's wills storage program (varies by region)

The single biggest avoidable problem in Ontario probate is the missing original. A photocopy can be probated, but the court requires evidence about why the original is missing and how the photocopy was prepared, and the door is opened to challenges. Tell your executor exactly where the original is.

What we focus on at It's Simple Will #

The Will Creator at app.itssimplewill.ca generates an Ontario-compliant formal will. The execution instructions in the document walk the SLRA section 4 sequence — sign in the presence of two non-beneficiary adult witnesses at the same time, both witnesses signing in your presence. The will is paired with an affidavit of execution template so probate goes smoother.

Section 21.1 substantial compliance is a useful safety net, but a will that gets the formalities right the first time is materially cheaper, faster, and harder to contest than one that needs a court application to be validated.

Related reading: how to write a will in Canada, dying without a will in Canada, and what is probate in Canada.