How to Write a Valid Will in New Brunswick

A 32-year-old occupational therapist in Fredericton signs a will at her kitchen table on a Saturday afternoon, witnessed by two of her neighbours. The neighbours are her age, mentally competent, not named in the will, and not married to anyone named in the will. The signing meets every requirement under New Brunswick's Wills Act. She tells her sister — the named executor — that the original is in a fireproof safe under her bed and recites the combination. Six years later she dies in a kayaking accident. Probate in Saint John takes seventeen weeks from filing to grant. No challenges, no surprises, no unfound assets.

That is what a New Brunswick will is meant to do. The statute is straightforward, the witnessing rules are not complicated, and a competent adult can produce a valid New Brunswick will in an afternoon without involving a lawyer if the underlying estate is simple. The same statute is unforgiving when the rules are missed — a will signed by 17-year-old who didn't meet an exception, or signed without two witnesses, or with one of the witnesses being a beneficiary, is usually defective in ways that probate cannot quietly repair.

This guide walks through the validity rules and the choices a New Brunswick testator should make.

What New Brunswick's Wills Act actually requires #

The governing statute is the Wills Act, RSNB 1973, c W-9. The core formal-validity requirements are:^[1]

• Age. The testator must be at least 19 (the age of majority in New Brunswick). Exceptions exist for minors who are married, are members of the Canadian Forces on active service, or are sailors at sea — these track the historical Wills Act pattern shared across most Canadian common-law provinces.
• Writing. The will must be in writing. Typed or handwritten is fine; oral wills are not valid in New Brunswick.
• Signature. The will must be signed by the testator at the foot or end of the will (or signed by another person in the testator's presence and direction, in narrow circumstances).
• Witnesses. Two witnesses must be present at the same time when the testator signs (or when the testator acknowledges a previously-made signature). Each witness must then sign in the testator's presence.

A will that meets these requirements is "formally valid." A will that fails any of them is not automatically void, but probate becomes a much harder argument — the executor may have to invoke the substantial-compliance jurisdiction under section 35.1 of the Wills Act or argue the document is a holograph, and neither path is guaranteed.

The witness rules — the most common defect #

Beneficiary-witness mistakes account for a meaningful share of New Brunswick will challenges. The Wills Act voids gifts to a witness or to a witness's spouse — the will itself remains valid, but the specific gift to the witness or their spouse fails.^[2]

A simple rule that prevents this — neither witness should be named anywhere in the will, and neither witness should be married to anyone named in the will. The safest witnesses are neutral adults — neighbours, work colleagues, lawyers' staff — who have no inheritance interest.

Two further witness rules:

• Witnesses must be mentally competent at the time of signing (capable of understanding what they're witnessing).
• Witnesses must be present together when the testator signs — they cannot witness sequentially or on different occasions.

For pandemic-era virtual signing, New Brunswick (like several other provinces) permitted remote witnessing through audio-visual technology during emergency-order periods. As of 2026, the temporary remote-witnessing provisions are largely unwound; an in-person signing in the same room is the standard.

Holograph wills in New Brunswick #

Section 6 of the Wills Act allows a "holograph will" — a will written entirely in the testator's own handwriting and signed by them, without any witnesses.^[1] The validity requirements are narrower than a formal will:

• Entirely in the testator's handwriting (typed pages or pre-printed will-kit forms with fill-in blanks do not qualify).
• Signed by the testator (no signing-at-the-foot or witness-presence requirement).
• Reflects testamentary intent (the document must be intended as a will, not as a draft, note, or letter).

Holograph wills are mostly useful in emergencies. The canonical Canadian example involves a Saskatchewan farmer who, trapped under his tractor and not expecting rescue, etched a will into the tractor fender ("In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo. Harris"); the fender was admitted to probate. New Brunswick courts have similarly admitted handwritten documents in less dramatic circumstances.

For ordinary estate planning, a formal witnessed will is preferable. Holographs are harder to probate (the executor must prove the document is in the testator's handwriting and reflects testamentary intent), and ambiguities in the handwritten text can be very difficult to resolve.

Choosing an executor under New Brunswick procedure #

The executor is the person named in the will who administers the estate. In New Brunswick, the executor's role tracks the general Canadian common-law pattern — gather assets, pay debts, file tax returns, distribute the residue. Probate is granted by the Probate Court of New Brunswick under the Probate Court Act.^[4]

Executor choices that work well in New Brunswick:

• A close family member or friend with administrative competence. The most common pattern.
• A professional executor (trust company, lawyer's firm) for complex estates. Available but more expensive — typically a percentage of the estate plus disbursements.
• Co-executors. Two people who must act jointly. Useful when no single person has the right combination of skills, but requires unanimous decisions on many matters.

Always name an alternate executor. The Wills Act does not provide an automatic substitute if your sole named executor cannot act; the court will appoint an administrator instead, and the administrator may not be the person you would have chosen.

Marriage, divorce, and the New Brunswick will #

Two life events have automatic effects on a New Brunswick will.

Marriage. Under the Wills Act, marriage generally revokes a prior will unless the will was specifically made in contemplation of that marriage and states so on its face. This is the historical Canadian default; Ontario abolished it in 2022 but New Brunswick has retained the rule.^[1] If you marry, treat your prior will as gone — write a new one or confirm the old one with a codicil that addresses the marriage.

Divorce. Unlike several other provinces, New Brunswick's current Wills Act has no provision that automatically revokes a gift to a former spouse or removes them as executor when a divorce becomes final.^[1] The will keeps working exactly as written — if an ex-spouse is named as a beneficiary or executor and the will is never updated, they still inherit and can still act. Treat a finalized divorce as a mandatory trigger to update the will.

Separation (without divorce) has no automatic effect on spousal gifts either — nothing changes until the will itself is amended.

A change is coming, but is not yet law. The Legislative Assembly passed An Act to Amend the Wills Act (SNB 2025, c 43) with Royal Assent on December 12, 2025. Once proclaimed — expected sometime in 2026, per the province's Law Reform Notes — it will lower the minimum will-making age to 16 (with capacity), repeal the automatic marriage-revocation rule described above, extend similar treatment to common-law partners, and add a new rule revoking gifts to a spouse or partner after a relationship ends. Until the proclamation takes effect, the rules described in this article (age 19, marriage revokes a prior will, divorce does not) remain the current law.^[6]

What happens if you die without a New Brunswick will #

If you die intestate in New Brunswick, the Devolution of Estates Act governs distribution.^[3] The formula:

• Spouse and no children. The spouse receives the entire estate.
• Spouse and children. The spouse receives a preferential share (which has been historically lower in New Brunswick than in several other provinces) plus a portion of the remainder; the children share the rest.
• Children and no spouse. The children share equally.
• No spouse and no children. The estate flows up to parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives under the consanguinity ladder.
• No identifiable heirs. The estate escheats to the Crown under the Escheats and Forfeitures Act.

The Devolution of Estates Act does not currently provide automatic intestate inheritance for common-law partners in New Brunswick. A common-law partner can apply for dependant support but has no fixed share by statute. A will is the only reliable way to leave property to a common-law partner.

Probate fees in New Brunswick #

Probate in New Brunswick attracts a probate fee under the Probate Court Act regulation. The current fee structure is tiered by estate value and is among the lower probate fee regimes in Canada — generally a few hundred dollars on a moderate estate, not the percentage-based regime used in Ontario or Nova Scotia.

See our probate fee calculator for the current New Brunswick fee scale and for a comparison with other provinces.

Powers of attorney — the companion documents #

A New Brunswick will addresses what happens after death; two companion documents address incapacity during life.

Power of Attorney for property (called an "enduring power of attorney" in New Brunswick). Names a person to manage your finances if you lose mental capacity. The document must be signed and witnessed; specific requirements are governed by the Property Act.

Power of Attorney for personal care (often handled through a personal directive in New Brunswick). Names a person to make health and personal-care decisions if you cannot. This is increasingly important as the Canadian population ages.

These are not part of the will itself but are typically drafted alongside it. A complete New Brunswick estate plan includes the will plus both powers of attorney.

A simple New Brunswick will checklist #

For a competent adult New Brunswick resident with a moderate estate:

1. Confirm you are 19 or older.
2. Identify the executor and alternate executor.
3. Decide the residue beneficiary and any specific bequests.
4. If you have minor children, identify guardians.
5. Print the will (or write entirely by hand as a holograph).
6. Find two qualified witnesses — adults, mentally competent, not beneficiaries, not spouses of beneficiaries.
7. Sign in their joint presence; have them sign in your presence.
8. Tell the executor where the original is stored.
9. Update beneficiary designations on registered accounts and life insurance to align.
10. Schedule a review every 3-5 years or after any major life event.

What we focus on at It's Simple Will #

It's Simple Will produces wills that meet New Brunswick's Wills Act formal-validity requirements — adult testator, two witnesses present, signed at the foot — and walks the user through the choices the statute leaves to them (executor, residue, guardians, specific gifts). The output is province-tagged so the witnessing instructions and ancillary documents reflect New Brunswick practice rather than a generic template.

Our pillar on how to write a will in Canada covers the general drafting decisions; the witnessing a will article goes deeper on the witness rules that catch first-time will writers. The dying without a will in Canada article walks through what happens under each province's intestacy formula, including New Brunswick.

Start at app.itssimplewill.ca. The questionnaire takes 20-40 minutes for a straightforward New Brunswick estate.