Know your three options

Under article 712 of the Civil Code of Québec, there are exactly three forms of Will: the notarial Will, the holograph Will, and the Will made in the presence of witnesses. Our service prepares the third one. Before you choose, we want you to understand all three: what each costs now, what each asks of your family later, and which one fits your situation. Our goal is not to talk you out of visiting a notary. For many people a notarial Will is an excellent choice. Our goal is to make sure that whichever form you choose, you choose it with full knowledge.

 

Comparing the three forms of Will

  Notarial Will Holograph Will Will made in the presence of witnesses
Who prepares it A notary, based on your wishes (Civil Code, article 716) You, entirely in your own handwriting (article 726) You, or someone else for you, by hand or by computer (article 727). This is the form our service prepares.
Formalities to sign Read and signed before the notary and a witness Written entirely by hand and signed by you. No witnesses, no technical means. Declared and signed before two adult witnesses, who sign in your presence. Everyone initials every page (article 728).
Typical upfront cost Professional fees, typically several hundred dollars or more Free Free to low cost if self-prepared, including with our service
Verified by a court or notary after death? No. A notarial Will is an authentic act. This is the only form that skips verification. Yes. Verification is required, usually about $1,500 in total with professional help. Yes. Verification is required, usually about $1,500 in total with professional help.
Registered in an official registry? Yes, automatically, in the registry of the Chambre des notaires du Québec No. Keep the original safe and tell your liquidator where it is. Not automatically. Wills prepared by a lawyer can be registered with the Barreau du Québec. Keep the original safe and tell your liquidator where it is.
Good to know Includes personalized legal advice from the notary Simple, but easy to lose and easy to get wrong without guidance Affordable and easy to update; the signing formalities must be followed carefully

Sources: Civil Code of Québec, articles 712 to 730.1, and Éducaloi, Understanding Your Options: 3 Types of Wills.

 

What our service prepares (and what it does not)

Our MyWill™ service prepares a Will made in the presence of witnesses under article 727 of the Civil Code of Québec, using the correct Québec legal terminology: your estate is a "succession", you appoint a "liquidator" rather than an executor, your gifts are legacies to "legatees", and a "tutor" can be named for minor children. The attestation clause in the document refers to articles 727 and 728 of the Civil Code, and your documents come with a step-by-step Québec signing checklist. Our Québec documents are reviewed by Jonathan Lazare, a Québec legal professional.

We are not notaries and we do not provide legal advice. We do not prepare notarial Wills (only a notary can) or holograph Wills (you write those entirely by hand yourself). If your situation calls for a notarial Will, we would rather tell you now: see Is an online Will right for you? below.

 

What happens after a death: verification

A Will made in the presence of witnesses must be verified after you die (in French, "vérification"). Your liquidator (or another interested person) presents the Will to the Superior Court of Québec, or asks a notary to verify it. The application includes the original Will, proof of death, and a sworn statement from one of your witnesses. The process usually takes several weeks. The court filing fee is a flat amount, and with professional help the total cost is usually about $1,500 (source: Éducaloi). You can estimate the court fee with our probate and verification fee calculator.

Verification exists to protect you: it is how Québec confirms that the Will is genuine and validly made. It is a normal, expected step for this form of Will, and your succession pays for it once, at settlement time. A notarial Will does not need verification, because a notary is a public officer and the Will is an authentic act. That is a real advantage of the notarial Will, and part of what you pay a notary for. Our role is to make sure that if you choose a Will made in the presence of witnesses, you choose it with full knowledge, and sign it correctly.

 

Is an online Will right for you?

A notarial Will may serve you better if: you have a blended family; you own a business, farmland, or property outside Québec; someone who depends on you needs long-term protection; you expect your wishes might be contested; or you want your succession to skip the verification step entirely. A notary also gives you personalized legal advice, which no online service can. The Chambre des notaires du Québec can help you find a notary.

A Will made in the presence of witnesses, prepared online, may fit you well if your wishes are straightforward, you are comfortable following a clear signing checklist with two witnesses, and you want an affordable document that you can update easily as life changes.

Not sure? Our short questionnaire asks about your situation and gives an honest recommendation, in either direction.

Take the two-minute questionnaire

 

How signing works in Québec

The formalities for a Will made in the presence of witnesses are strict, and we take them seriously. In summary:

  • You declare before two witnesses that the document is your Will, and sign it at the end.
  • Both witnesses must be adults of sound mind. A witness cannot be a legatee (someone who receives something in the Will), and cannot be the spouse of a legatee. Under Québec law a gift left to a witness is void, so choose neutral witnesses.
  • The witnesses sign immediately, in your presence and in each other's presence.
  • You and both witnesses initial every page (article 728).
  • Keep a record of each witness's full name, address and telephone number with your Will. One of them will provide a sworn statement at verification time.

Your documents come with a detailed Québec signing checklist covering each of these steps. You can read more on our Signing a Will page.

 

Frequently asked questions

Is an online Will legal in Québec?

Yes. A Will prepared online and signed correctly is a Will made in the presence of witnesses, one of the three forms recognized by article 712 of the Civil Code of Québec. Éducaloi, a respected Québec legal education organization, confirms that model and online Wills are valid in Québec when the formalities are followed. The formalities matter: follow the signing checklist carefully.

Which of the three forms does your service prepare?

The Will made in the presence of witnesses (article 727). We do not prepare notarial Wills or holograph Wills.

Will my family have to go to court?

There is one required step: verification. Your liquidator presents the Will to the Superior Court of Québec or to a notary, with a sworn statement from one of your witnesses. It usually takes several weeks and, with professional help, usually costs about $1,500 in total. It is a normal step for this form of Will, not a sign of a problem. A notarial Will skips this step.

Why is my Will not in the Québec Wills registry?

Notarial Wills are registered automatically with the Chambre des notaires, and Wills made by a lawyer can be registered with the Barreau du Québec. A Will you make online is not registered automatically. It is still valid, but keep the original somewhere safe and make sure your liquidator knows where it is. Your heirs will still request registry searches when settling the succession; a Will that is not registered simply will not appear there.

Who can be a witness?

Two adults of sound mind. A witness cannot be a legatee and cannot be the spouse of a legatee. Under Québec law a gift left to a witness is void even though the rest of the Will stands, so choose neutral witnesses: neighbours, colleagues, friends who inherit nothing.

Should I just go to a notary instead?

For many people a notarial Will is the better choice, and we would rather you know that now. For many others, a Will made in the presence of witnesses is a valid, affordable option that you can update easily as life changes. Our short questionnaire helps you decide; it does not push you either way.

Can I do everything in French?

Yes. Our service is fully available in French at Volontés de Vie, including your documents, the signing checklist, and support.

What about a protection mandate or medical directives?

In Québec, our MyLivingWill™ service prepares a Protection Mandate (mandat de protection). Detailed advance medical directives can also be recorded with the Québec government's own form, which we encourage you to consider in addition. Our MyPowerOfAttorney™ service prepares a power of attorney that operates while you are capable.

 

Sources and further reading

This page is general information about Québec law, not legal advice.

How It Works

When you create a Will or legal document at LegalWills, you can designate up to 20 different Keyholders®. Your chosen Keyholders® will be given the trust and power to unlock specific information within your account such as health care directives, funeral wishes, final messages, uploaded files, Power of Attorney, or Last Will and Testament.

You can also implement security mechanisms to prevent premature access to these documents. The entire process of creating your Will and other legal documents at LegalWills is seamless and iterative, meaning you can continue to make changes until you're happy with the final product.
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Frequently Asked Questions

There is absolutely no legal requirement to use the services of a lawyer to prepare your Will.

The law requires that the Will is written on a piece of paper and then signed by you in the presence of two witnesses. Once it is signed and witnessed, it becomes a legal Last Will and Testament.

If you need legal advice, you should secure the services of a lawyer, but most people do not need legal advice to prepare a Will. Especially if they are using a service like the one at LegalWills.co.za.
When you write your Will with a lawyer, you are paying for their training, so that if you needed custom clauses written for unique situations, they would probably be able to do this for you. However, most Wills do not require unique new clauses to be written, and the vast majority of Wills are a compilation of known legal "precedents".

Most lawyers use Will writing software to prepare Wills, and we use that exact same software, but give you direct access to it. You should really be asking why a lawyer charges R2,000 for about an hour's work.

If you have unusual circumstances, such as a child with special needs, then you may need legal advice. But for the vast majority, you would be paying premium rates for legal advice that you don't need.

There are no other payments required to prepare your legal Will. You can have a legal Will in your hands for R499 with nothing else to pay, ever.

What other options are there?
If you wish, you can have your Will reviewed by one of our lawyers for R999. Most people do not need this, and would not benefit from it, but if you have selected an option such as "None of the above. Let me describe in detail how to distribute my estate.", then you may want to consider this.

Your Will must first be printed, and then signed in the presence of two witnesses. If you do not have access to a printer, we can print it for you and mail it out. The cost for this is R149, but again, most people do not need this option.

We also offer other services like MyLifeLocker™ and a Living Will. They are not required, but they may be useful to you depending on your situation.

What about document storage?
We do not store physical documents, but we allow you to maintain an account with us if you want to update your document in the future.

The Will service costs R499. With this payment, you are able to prepare your Will. It also gives you one year of unlimited updates to the document. You are able to print the document as often as you wish during that first year. You can download it as a PDF file, but to make your document a legal Will, it must first be printed, and then signed in the presence of two witnesses. The online version is there for your convenience only.

If you choose not to maintain an account with us after the first year, your initial payment is all you will ever pay. We do not keep credit card details on file and cannot automatically charge beyond this initial payment.

If you wish, you can choose to store your documents online for longer than a year, which will make it easier to make updates in the future to reflect any changes in your personal or financial situation (rather than returning to a lawyer each time). This is of course optional, but it does make the process of maintaining your document more convenient. R149 will give you one additional year of updates, or you can purchase multiple years: 5 years at R299, 10 years at R449,

Every time you make an update to your Will, it must first be printed, and then signed in the presence of two witnesses again. If you choose not to maintain an account with us, you will always have your printed, signed document. If you don't need to make changes to that document, it will last you for the rest of your life, whether or not you have an account with us.

What happens if I don't maintain an account, and then in a few years I need to update it?
If your account has not been touched in years, and it is inactive, we reserve the right to remove the account. You will receive an email notification that your account might be removed. However, in practice, we have never actually removed any accounts in our over 26 years of operation.

So, in all likelihood, you will be able to simply login to your account and pay R149 to reactivate it. This will give you one year of unlimited updates from the date of payment. (You will not have to pay for your inactive years.)

Our answer is different depending on what you are comparing us to.

The service at LegalWills.co.za is significantly better than a blank form Will kit that you can buy on Amazon or WHSmiths. These blank kits do not check for errors, allow you to do things you are legally not allowed to do, and rarely cover backup scenarios. They are actually the most difficult way to prepare a well drafted Will.

We provide the same quality documents as an estate planning lawyer – often word-for-word identical, because we use the same software that they use. We've just adapted it to make it easier to understand, and given you direct access to it. Therefore, you can create a lawyer grade Will, but from the comfort of your own home at less than a tenth of the price.

When compared to other online services, we have honest, up-front pricing that is better than any equivalent service. We also believe that we have the highest quality service online today. In all the time that we have been in business, never once has one of our Wills had an issue going through the probate process. We also offer best-in-class phone and email support if you get stuck.

Some other highlights:

  • Help text every step of the way.   Every page of our service has additional help text to answer your questions. If you get stuck, send us an email and we can help.

  • Create your Will from anywhere at any time.   Our service works on any computer, phone or tablet. Which means you can create or update your Will in the middle of the night in Timbuktu if you need to.

  • Unlimited updates.   If you write your Will with a lawyer, it could be out of date by the time you get home. You don't face that issue with LegalWills.co.za. If your circumstances change, simply login to your account, update your document, and sign your new Will. There is no charge for updates as long as you maintain a membership.

  • Professional reviews by a lawyer.   Our service works for the vast majority of situations, but on occasion people have unusual circumstances and need the reassurance of a legal professional's eye. We offer this as an option.

  • Our other services.   We don't just do Will writing. We offer a complete portfolio of services that will help you to plan your estate. We have the LifeLocker® executor tool, that allows you to document all of your personal details and assets, and MyVault™ that lets you upload important files. Together with our Keyholder® mechanism, you can be assured that the right information gets into the right hands at the right time (and not before).

  • Privacy and security.   We do not store any information as plain text. We do not store Wills in our database. All of your information is encrypted on our servers. Nobody can access it except you and your designated Keyholders® at the appropriate time. Furthermore, we do not share, trade or sell any of your data with third parties whatsoever.

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