In Ontario, there are three ways to do your will, all of which have pros and cons. Holograph wills. I have written about these before; holograph wills are done entirely in your own handwriting. They have been done on bags, on hubcaps, and, more commonly, on pieces of...
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holograph will
Answer the questions
In our office, we have all of our estate planning clients fill out a questionnaire before coming in to see us. Our questionnaire is about five pages long, and goes through who is in the family, what assets you have, and whether you have agreements that we might need...
iWill
In Ontario, a holograph will is a will that is done entirely in your own handwriting, and signed and dated at the end. However, it must be entirely in your own handwriting – one typed word can make the entire will invalid. In Australia, a will on an iPhone has been...
Remembering a tractor
65 years ago, Cecil Harris was out in his field when he jumped off his tractor to check on something. The tractor unfortunately kept going, and he became trapped underneath it. Recognizing that he might die, he scratched instructions into the side of the tractor: “In...
A new kind of holograph will
A holograph will is a will that is done entirely in your own handwriting; if there are no typed portions, then it just needs to be dated and signed at the bottom. No witnesses are required. There have been some unusual holograph wills probated in the past, such as a...
What counts as a will?
There have been a number of unusual items counted as wills. Most notably in Canada, the fender of a tractor was once probated. Recently, in Sydney, Australia, a suicide note was considered to be a valid will. The note stated that all of his assets were to be left to...