What is a will, and what does it actually do?

A will is a written instruction that takes effect when you die. It does three jobs, and it is worth separating them, because people usually think about only the first one.

The three jobs a will does

It appoints someone to be in charge. Your executor — called an estate trustee in Ontario court documents and a personal representative in Alberta — is the person with legal authority to gather your assets, pay your debts and taxes, and hand out what is left. Without a will, nobody has that authority until a court grants it to someone, which takes months.

It decides who gets what. Specific items to specific people, then the rest of your estate — the residue — divided however you choose. Percentages, not just names.

It names a guardian for your minor children. This is the reason most parents finally make a will. If both parents die, your will is where you say who raises your children. All three provinces let you appoint a guardian this way, though the court retains the final say based on the child’s best interests.

What a will does not do

This is where the mistakes happen.

It does not control assets that pass outside your estate. Registered accounts with a named beneficiary — RRSP, RRIF, TFSA — go to that person directly. So does life insurance with a named beneficiary. So does property held in joint tenancy with a right of survivorship. Your will does not override any of these, and a will that says “everything to my sister” while your RRSP names your ex-spouse will hand your RRSP to your ex-spouse.

It does not take effect while you are alive. If you have a stroke and cannot manage your own affairs, your will is irrelevant — it only operates on death. The documents that matter then are powers of attorney, which are separate. That is why we include them at no extra cost.

It does not avoid probate. A will is the document your executor takes to probate. Having one usually makes probate faster and cheaper, but it does not skip it.

It does not bind your funeral wishes. You can and should record what you want, and your executor will almost certainly follow it, but funeral instructions in a will are generally not legally enforceable in Canada.

Why the province matters so much

Estate law in Canada is provincial. Each province has its own succession statute, and the differences are not academic:

• Ontario operates under the Succession Law Reform Act. You must be 18 to make a will. Handwritten wills are valid. Common-law partners inherit nothing automatically.
• British Columbia operates under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act. You can make a will at 16. Handwritten wills are not valid. A partner of two years counts as a spouse. And a court can rewrite your will if it did not adequately provide for your spouse or children.
• Alberta operates under the Wills and Succession Act. You must be 18. Handwritten wills are valid. Electronic wills are not. An adult interdependent partner has full spousal rights.

A generic template does not know any of this. That is the entire reason our questionnaire asks where you live before it asks anything else.

Do you need a lawyer to write one?

No. There is no requirement in any of the three provinces that a will be drafted or witnessed by a lawyer. What makes a will valid is that it is in writing, signed by you with the intention of making a will, and witnessed correctly for your province.

There are situations where you should use a lawyer anyway — a business, foreign property, a trust, a blended family with competing claims, or any plan to leave a spouse or adult child out. We list all of them, because it is better that you know than that we take your money.

What to do next

1. Check your beneficiary designations on every registered account and insurance policy.
2. Decide who your executor will be, and ask them.
3. Work out roughly what you own and what you owe. Our will checklist lists everything you will be asked.
4. Read what makes a will legally valid in your province, because signing it wrong is the most common way a will fails.