Estate planning in Ontario: the complete picture

Everything Ontario-specific from across our learn centre, gathered into one page. For any topic, the linked article goes deeper.

The statute and the basics

Ontario wills live under the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA). Valid will: written, signed at the end by a testator 18+ with capacity, before two witnesses 18+ who sign in your presence, neither a beneficiary nor a beneficiary’s spouse. Holograph wills — entirely handwritten and signed — are valid with no witnesses. Notarisation is never required. Validity in full.

Remote witnessing is permanently available (since the Accelerating Access to Justice Act, 2021): audio-visual presence counts, provided at least one witness is a Law Society of Ontario licensee. The will itself is still paper and wet ink — Ontario has no electronic wills.

The 2021–22 reforms, in case your will predates them

Ontario quietly modernised several rules with effect from January 1, 2022:

• Marriage no longer revokes a will. For decades it did, silently voiding pre-marriage wills. No longer.
• Separation now matters. For deaths after 2021, a spouse separated in defined circumstances (three years apart, or a separation agreement/order) is treated as predeceased for the will and intestacy — similar to what divorce already did.
• Court validation power (s 21.1): a document that clearly records testamentary intent can be ordered valid despite formal defects. A safety net, not a plan.

Dying intestate in Ontario

Married spouse takes the first $350,000 (deaths on/after March 1, 2021; O Reg 121/21), then splits the remainder — half with one child, one-third with more. Common-law partners take nothing automatically — the single harshest rule in Ontario estate law and the best reason a common-law Ontarian has to make a will tonight. Intestacy in full · The common-law divide.

Probate and the EAT

Ontario’s Estate Administration Tax: nothing to $50,000, 1.5% above, uncapped — the most expensive probate regime of our three provinces. $800,000 estate → $11,250. Compute yours with the calculator; reduce what flows through probate with designations and (for business owners) multiple wills. The executor files an Estate Information Return within 180 days of the certificate.

Incapacity documents

The Substitute Decisions Act, 1992: a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property (18+) and a Power of Attorney for Personal Care (16+), each needing two witnesses with the SDA’s exclusion list. Both are included with your will here. Ontario POA rules.

Guardianship

A will can appoint a guardian for minor children under the Children’s Law Reform Act; the appointment runs 90 days while the guardian seeks court confirmation. Pair it with a minor’s trust and an inheritance age so the money side does not default to court control and an 18th-birthday payout.

Make the Ontario version of your will

Our questionnaire runs Ontario’s rules — the ages, the witness exclusions, the EAT flag when your estate crosses $50,000 — and generates signing instructions for Ontario execution. Start here.