Signing a standard witnessed will: province-specific instructions
What these instructions cover
These instructions apply only to a standard, in-person, witnessed Will generated by the product. Requirements differ across Canada, and some provinces recognize different forms of wills, including holograph, electronic, military, notarial, or international wills. Follow the province-specific signing instructions supplied with your document.
This is a DIY-assisted kit. It is not a law firm and this is not legal advice.
The four steps
These are the same four steps, in the same order and the same words, that the product shows you on the screen headed What happens after you download immediately before you generate your Will. If this page and that screen ever disagree, the disagreement is the bug — tell us.
A Will may not be valid for probate unless it is executed correctly. Correct signing alone does not resolve every possible issue affecting validity.
- Print your Will on plain paper.
- Sign or acknowledge your signature while both witnesses are present together.
- Have each witness sign while you are present, following the signing sequence in your province-specific instructions.
- Keep the signed original safe and tell your executor where it is.
Who may witness is not one of the four steps. It is a separate question, decided before you sit down to sign, and it is answered in the witnesses section below — on the screen itself it is the (?) beside the word witnesses in step 2.
Do not write on, cross out, detach pages from, or otherwise alter your Will after signing. If you need to change it, generate a new Will. See After signing below.
Printing
Step 1 is printing because this page, and the screen it mirrors, describe the standard in-person witnessed route on paper — that is the only route the product generates a Will for. Print the final version and sign that printed copy. Print settings are not the point — legibility and completeness are. If your circumstances point at some other form of will, nothing on this page applies to you and the province-specific instructions supplied with your document, not this page, settle what you need.
Witnesses: who may witness your Will
Two rules are in play at once, and only one of them is the same everywhere.
Age is province-specific, and this page does not quote a figure. The minimum age for a witness is set by the law of the province or territory your Will is made for, and it is not the same figure across Canada. The product prints the figure for your province — open the (?) beside the word witnesses in step 2 of the signing screen, or read the province-specific instructions supplied with your document. A number quoted out of context on a page like this one is worse than no number at all.
The gift rule. A witness must not be anyone who receives a gift under your Will, and must not be the spouse or partner of anyone who does.
That is a test about gifts, not about family. A family member who receives nothing under your Will may witness it. A spouse who receives a gift may not. Do not choose or rule out a witness on the strength of family connection alone — ask instead whether that person, or their spouse or partner, takes anything under the Will.
If your circumstances are not plainly covered by the instructions supplied with your document, get legal advice before you sign.
Video, remote and electronic signing
Do not use video, remote witnessing, counterpart signing, or electronic signatures unless the province-specific instructions for your document expressly permit that method and you can meet every listed condition.
Before you sign
Signing formalities are only one part of a valid Will. If you have concerns about your ability to understand the Will, pressure from another person, a serious illness, communication barriers, a recent major change in circumstances, or a dispute among family members, obtain legal advice before signing.
After signing
After signing: Do not write on, cross out, detach pages from, or otherwise alter your signed Will. A change may be ineffective or create uncertainty. If you need to change your Will, generate a new Will or obtain legal advice about a properly executed codicil. Keep the signed original in a secure location, and tell your executor where it is.
If you want to change what your Will says, see Updating your will after you have generated it.
Québec is not covered
It's Simple Will does not produce documents for Québec. The product is available in every Canadian province and territory except Québec, whose civil law system has different requirements. If your Will is for Québec, nothing on this page applies to you and the product cannot generate the document — speak to a Québec notary or lawyer.
Where your own province's instructions appear
The wording written for your province travels with your document in three places:
- Before you generate — the step headed What happens after you download.
- In your Will PDF — the signing and attestation sections are part of the document itself.
- After you download — under the download button on Your documents, a link labelled How to sign it.
Those are the instructions to work from for your own Will. Read them in full before you sign, and if anything in them does not match your circumstances, get legal advice rather than improvising.
Powers of attorney and personal-care documents
If you added one, its execution requirements come from that province's own rules rather than from the four steps above, and they are shown on the same screen. Where a province has an official government form, the page links you to it.
The kits do not need witnessing
Your Life Discovery Kit and your Funeral Wishes Plan are private companions to your Will. They are not witnessed and are not signed the way a Will is.
If you are unsure
Start a request from Support in your account and choose Signing and witnessing in my province. See How support works. We can point you back at the instructions supplied with your document; we cannot advise you on your own circumstances, and where the answer turns on your situation the right person to ask is a lawyer.
This is a DIY-assisted will kit, not a law firm, and not legal advice — see our disclaimer.