Rudy MezzettaMelissa Shin
In Ontario, virtual will witnessing is now permanent, courts will be able to save invalid wills and marriage no longer automatically revokes a will.
The province’s estate law reform hit a major milestone with the royal assent of Bill 245 last month. The omnibus bill, first tabled in February, includes changes to the acts governing wills, powers of attorney and intestacy.
The updated legislation “better reflects the realities of life in the 2020s” and “has the potential to improve access to justice,” said Suzana Popovic-Montag, estate lawyer and managing partner with Hull & Hull LLP in Toronto.
Bill 245 permits permanent virtual witnessing of wills and powers of attorney, which was already allowed on a temporary basis in the province. At least one witness must be a licensed lawyer or paralegal. The legislation doesn’t specify an effective date for the provision, but will apply retroactively to any will or power of attorney document signed in a
Rudy Mezzetta
Estate practitioners are applauding an Ontario government proposal to provide courts with the power to save wills that might otherwise be found invalid due to technical errors a power that already exists in the majority of Canadian jurisdictions.
When a will is deemed invalid, estate property is distributed according to the intestacy rules found in a province’s estate act, rather than as the deceased may have intended.
In all provinces except Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, the courts have a mechanism to save an otherwise invalid will and declare it valid. The eight provinces operate under what’s known as a “substantial compliance” regime.
Rudy Mezzetta
Estate practitioners are applauding an Ontario government proposal to provide courts with the power to save wills that might otherwise be found invalid due to technical errors a power that already exists in the majority of Canadian jurisdictions.
When a will is deemed invalid, estate property is distributed according to the intestacy rules found in a province’s estate act, rather than as the deceased may have intended.
In all provinces except Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, the courts have a mechanism to save an otherwise invalid will and declare it valid. The eight provinces operate under what’s known as a “substantial compliance” regime.