Electronic Wills in Canada: Are Digital Signatures Valid?

A 34-year-old software developer in Vancouver creates a will using a Canadian online will service on a Tuesday evening, signs it with a typed signature in an embedded DocuSign-style flow, and has two friends witness the signing via Zoom from their respective living rooms. He stores the only copy in cloud storage. He dies in a cycling accident eighteen months later.

If he lives in any Canadian province other than BC, no part of that ceremony produces a valid will — the document fails the wet-ink, in-person-witness, paper-original requirements that every other Canadian succession statute still imposes. In BC, by contrast, his will is potentially valid under sections 35.1 to 35.3 of WESA, which permit fully electronic wills with electronic signatures and electronic presence of witnesses.^[1]

The single-province gap is the central fact about electronic wills in Canada. This article walks through what BC's rules actually require, why no other province has followed yet, and where the line currently sits between "remote-witnessed paper will" (permitted in several provinces) and "fully electronic will" (permitted in one).

What BC did and when #

British Columbia became the first Canadian province to permit fully electronic wills on December 1, 2021, when amendments under Bill 21 (the Wills, Estates and Succession Amendment Act, 2020) came into force.^[2]

The amendments added two key sections to WESA:

Section 35.3 permits a will to be in electronic form. An electronic will exists as an electronic record, with electronic signatures, and is deemed signed if the electronic signature is in, attached to, or associated with the will in a way that makes the will-maker's intention to give effect to the entire document apparent.^[1]

Section 35.2 permits the witnessing of any will to occur with the parties in each other's "electronic presence" rather than physical presence. This applies to both paper wills (where the will-maker and witnesses can be in different physical locations) and electronic wills (where the entire ceremony is digital).^[1]

The amendments also retained traditional paper wills as fully valid. BC residents can choose paper, paper-with-remote-witnessing, or fully electronic depending on what works for them.

What an electronic signature means under BC's rules #

WESA defines electronic signature broadly. The definition includes:

• Formal digital signatures using cryptography (the kind used in DocuSign, Adobe Sign, and similar platforms)
• Typed names entered as a signature field
• Initials entered electronically
• Pasted images of a handwritten signature
• Other electronic representations of intent to sign

The legal test is not the technical sophistication of the signature method. It is whether the signature is associated with the will in a way that makes the will-maker's intention to give effect to the entire document apparent.^[1]

In practice, the higher-security methods (cryptographic digital signatures with audit trails) are preferred because they are easier to authenticate at probate. A typed name in a Word document, while potentially valid, is much harder to defend against challenge.

The rest of Canada — still paper #

In every Canadian province other than BC, the wills statute still requires:

• A written (paper) document
• Wet-ink signatures by the testator and witnesses
• Witnesses physically present with the testator (with limited exceptions for remote video witnessing of paper documents under specific protocols)

Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act,^[3] Alberta's Wills and Succession Act,^[4] and the equivalents in the other common-law provinces all maintain this paper-based framework as of 2026. Several provinces enacted temporary remote-witnessing rules during COVID-19, with some becoming permanent — but those rules permit remote witnessing of paper wills, not fully electronic wills.

A fully electronic will signed and witnessed in Ontario in 2026 would not be valid under Ontario law. The substantial-compliance provisions added to several provincial statutes in recent years might in some circumstances save a will that failed a technical formality, but applying substantial compliance to a fully electronic document where the statute requires paper is a stretch most Canadian courts have not yet been asked to make.

Why other provinces have not followed BC #

The slow national adoption reflects a few legitimate concerns:

Authentication. A wet-ink signature on a paper document is hard to forge and easy to compare. An electronic signature requires authentication infrastructure that has to be trusted at probate, sometimes decades after signing.

Cybersecurity and integrity. An electronic record can be altered in ways that are invisible without forensic analysis. Paper documents leave more obvious traces of alteration.

Storage. A paper original can be stored in a fireproof safe for decades. Electronic records depend on continuing access to the platform, the file format, and the storage medium — all of which can become obsolete or inaccessible.

Capacity and undue influence. In-person witnessing allows the witness to observe the testator's mental state and the surrounding circumstances. Video witnessing is workable but offers less context. Fully digital execution where the will-maker is alone with a computer offers the least.

These concerns are not insurmountable — BC's framework addresses them through specific procedural rules — but they have made other provinces cautious. As of mid-2026, no other Canadian province has tabled legislation matching BC's fully-electronic framework, though Ontario and several others have law reform commission reports under consideration.

Cross-border issues for BC electronic wills #

A BC resident who makes an electronic will and dies owning assets in another province faces a potential conflict-of-laws issue at probate.

Under general principles, the validity of a will as to personal (movable) property is determined by the law of the testator's domicile at death. So a BC resident's electronic will is generally valid as to bank accounts, investments, and personal property regardless of where the assets are physically located.

Real estate (immovable property) is different. The law of the situs of the real estate generally determines what formalities are required for the will to deal with that real estate. Where a BC resident dies with an Ontario condominium, the Ontario probate registry may or may not accept the BC electronic will as effective to transfer the Ontario real estate — the question has not been extensively litigated.

Practical advice for cross-border situations: either use a traditional paper will (which is unambiguously valid everywhere), or use a multiple-wills strategy with a province-specific paper will for the out-of-province real estate. See our guide on multiple wills in Ontario.

Remote witnessing of paper wills — a halfway house #

Several Canadian provinces permit remote video witnessing of paper wills under specific protocols, even though they do not permit fully electronic wills. The pattern varies:

• Ontario permits remote witnessing under section 4 of the SLRA as amended in 2020, with specific requirements about the will-maker and witnesses being in audio-visual communication and exchanging signed copies that are joined into one document.
• Alberta permits remote witnessing under similar provisions added during COVID-19 and continued thereafter.
• British Columbia permits both remote witnessing of paper wills and fully electronic wills.
• Saskatchewan and several Maritime provinces allow remote witnessing under various provincial frameworks.

Remote witnessing of a paper will is operationally similar to in-person witnessing, but uses video conference instead of physical presence. The will itself remains a paper document with wet-ink signatures; what changes is how the witnesses' presence is satisfied. This is a meaningfully more accessible option for testators with mobility limitations or in remote areas, without the conceptual and practical novelties of a fully electronic will.

What we focus on at It's Simple Will #

The It's Simple Will questionnaire generates a paper will designed to be printed, signed in wet ink, and witnessed in person (or remotely under the testator's provincial rules). We do not currently support BC's fully electronic will format, partly because the user base is mostly outside BC and partly because the long-term cross-provincial validity of a single-province electronic will is still developing.

The framing that lands with most users: paper is universally valid in 2026, and the modest inconvenience of printing and physical signing is far outweighed by avoiding the validity uncertainty of using a format only one province formally recognises. BC residents who specifically want an electronic will should work with a BC lawyer experienced in the new framework.

Related reading: how to sign your will in Canada, witnessing a will in Canada, and our pillar on how to write a will in Canada.