Most people put off making a will much longer than they should. It’s not because they don’t care about what happens to their family, their home, or their savings. It’s because it means thinking about something most of us would rather avoid. So it gets pushed to the bottom of the list. After the holidays. After the renovation. After life settles down a little. When the time finally comes, finding the right wills and estates lawyer in Ontario is one of the most important decisions you will make.
Then something changes. Maybe it’s a health scare. Maybe a friend’s parent passes away without a will, and the family spends years sorting everything out. Maybe there’s a second marriage or a new grandchild. Suddenly, making a will no longer feels like something that can wait.
If you’ve reached that point and you’re ready to get it done, the next question is who to hire. This is where many people make a decision without giving it much thought. They call the first lawyer they find, use the person who handled their real estate closing, or choose the cheapest option they come across online.
Sometimes that works out just fine. But in other cases, it can lead to problems that don’t appear until years later.
Here’s what to look for in a wills and estates lawyer in Ontario, and how to know when you may need more than a basic service.
First: Understand That Not All Estate Plans Are the Same
There is a version of wills and estates work that is genuinely simple. Two people, married for decades, no children from previous relationships, straightforward assets, clear intentions. A solid general practice lawyer can prepare that will properly and without issue.
Then there is everything else.
Blended families with stepchildren and competing obligations. Business owners who need succession planning woven into their estate documents. Parents of children with disabilities who need a carefully structured trust to protect government benefit eligibility. High-net-worth families where the tax implications of how assets flow at death are significant enough to warrant serious planning. People who own property in multiple jurisdictions. People who want to leave charitable gifts and need them structured to generate maximum tax relief.
The complexity of your situation determines the level of expertise you actually need. Before you hire anyone, take a look at your life – your family structure, your assets, your intentions, your potential complications, and make sure the lawyer you choose has genuine experience with situations like yours.
What Happens When the Planning Does Not Get Done
Ontario’s Succession Law Reform Act contains a set of rules that determine what happens to your estate if you die without a valid will. These rules divide your assets among your spouse and children according to a fixed formula. They do not account for your relationships, your wishes, or the practical realities of your family.
A Hamilton man died unexpectedly at 58, no will. He had been separated from his first wife for six years – informally, without a legal separation agreement, and had been living with a partner for four. Under Ontario’s intestacy rules, his separated spouse, with whom he had no ongoing relationship, was entitled to a significant share of his estate. His partner of four years, with whom he shared a home and finances, had no automatic entitlement at all. His adult children from his first marriage and his partner spent the better part of three years in litigation sorting it out.
He had meant to do a will. He just had not gotten around to it.
That story is not unusual. The specific details change. The outcome – family conflict, legal costs, assets distributed in ways the person never intended – is depressingly common.
What to Look for in a Wills and Estates Lawyer
1. Specific Experience in Wills, Estates, and Powers of Attorney
Wills and estates is a specialized area of law. In Ontario, there are specific legal requirements that must be followed for a will to be valid. For example, it must be signed in the presence of two witnesses at the same time. Those witnesses cannot be beneficiaries or the spouses of beneficiaries. If these requirements are not followed correctly, the will could be considered invalid. The rules for Powers of Attorney for Property and Personal Care are just as detailed.
The legal work doesn’t stop once the documents are signed. Estate administration, including applying for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee (commonly known as probate), managing estate assets, filing final tax returns, and distributing assets to beneficiaries, also follows a detailed legal process. A lawyer who doesn’t regularly handle estate matters may not be up to date on those requirements.
When choosing a lawyer, ask what percentage of their practice is focused on wills, estates, and powers of attorney. It’s also worth asking whether they handle estate administration and probate or only prepare the documents. If most of their work is in real estate, corporate law, or another area, and they only draft wills occasionally, that’s something you should know before making your decision.
2. They Ask About Your Family Structure Before Reaching for a Template
A lawyer who asks you for a few basic details and immediately starts filling in a standard form is not doing estate planning. They are doing document production.
A wills and estates lawyer worth hiring will spend meaningful time understanding your situation before suggesting any structure at all. They will ask about your family, including the complicated parts:
Are there children from a previous relationship?
Is your spouse the biological parent of all your children?
Are there family members with disabilities, addiction issues, or creditor problems that might affect how a direct inheritance would serve them?
Are there assets that need special handling – a business, a cottage, foreign property?
The answers to those questions should shape the document. Not the other way around.
3. Fluency With Trusts – Not Just Wills
For many Ontarians, a straightforward will is sufficient. But for those with minor children, blended families, or beneficiaries who need protection – a trust is an important part of the picture.
- Testamentary trusts created within a will can hold assets for minor children until they reach a specified age, preventing an 18-year-old from receiving a significant inheritance before they are equipped to manage it.
- Henson trusts – a type of discretionary trust named after an Ontario case. They are specifically designed to hold assets for beneficiaries with disabilities in a way that preserves their eligibility for provincial disability benefits (ODSP). Getting the structure wrong can cost a vulnerable beneficiary their benefits. Getting it right protects them for life.
- Spousal trusts allow assets to pass to a surviving spouse on a tax-deferred basis while protecting the capital for children from a prior relationship – a critical structure in blended families.
- Alter ego and joint partner trusts allow assets to pass outside of probate for those over 65, with significant potential tax and administrative advantages.
If your situation might benefit from any of these structures, make sure the lawyer you are considering has prepared them before – regularly, not occasionally. Ask specifically about whichever type is relevant to you.
4. Estate Tax Awareness – Even If They Are Not a Tax Specialist
Wills and estates lawyers are not necessarily tax lawyers. But a good estates lawyer understands enough about the tax implications of estate planning to flag issues and involve the right specialists when needed.
In Ontario, there is no estate tax in the traditional sense. There are probate fees (now called the Estate Administration Tax), calculated as a percentage of the estate’s value. More significantly, there is deemed disposition at death under federal income tax law. It means that capital assets like investment portfolios, rental properties, and shares in private companies are treated as sold at fair market value the moment someone dies, potentially triggering significant capital gains.
A lawyer who prepares your estate documents without ever raising these implications – without asking about your investment portfolio, your rental property, or your business – is leaving gaps. They may not be the right person to fill those gaps themselves, but they should be the person who identifies them and connects you with someone who can.
5. Experience With Powers of Attorney – Both Kinds
A will only governs what happens after death. A Power of Attorney for Property authorizes someone to manage your finances if you become incapable of doing so during your lifetime. A Power of Attorney for Personal Care authorizes someone to make healthcare and personal decisions on your behalf.
These documents are arguably as important as the will itself, and they are more likely to be needed during your lifetime. Cognitive decline, a serious accident, a medical emergency: the scenarios where a Power of Attorney becomes essential are not rare.
The person you name as your attorney for property will have broad authority over your finances – paying bills, managing investments, and potentially selling your home.
The person you name as your attorney for personal care will make decisions about your medical treatment, your living situation, and your daily care. These are not choices to make casually, and the documents need to be drafted carefully to reflect your specific wishes and limitations.
Make sure your lawyer discusses both documents with you, and takes the time to understand who you want in those roles and why.
6. Sensitivity to Family Dynamics
Estate planning sits at the intersection of law and family. And families are complicated.
A good wills and estates lawyer is not just technically competent. They are good at having honest conversations about difficult subjects. What happens if your children disagree about the family cottage? How do you handle a situation where one child has received significantly more financial support during your lifetime than the others? What do you do when a family member who is expected to inherit has a substance abuse problem or significant debt?
These are not legal questions with clean legal answers. They are human questions that require thoughtful guidance and, in some cases, careful document drafting to give effect to intentions that are more complicated than “divide everything equally.”
A lawyer who seems uncomfortable with the messy realities of family life, who defaults to “just divide it equally” without exploring whether that actually reflects your wishes and circumstances – is not serving you as well as they could.
7. Clear About What Happens After You Are Gone: Estate Administration
Drafting the documents is only part of what a wills and estates lawyer does. The other part is administering the estate when someone dies. And for the person named as executor, this process can be daunting.
In Ontario, if the estate requires probate – which it does when there are significant assets held solely in the deceased’s name – the executor must apply to the court for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee. They then have legal and fiduciary obligations to gather assets, pay debts, file returns, and distribute to beneficiaries – in the right order, within specific timelines, with proper documentation.
Getting this wrong exposes the executor to personal liability. Getting it right requires either significant administrative competence or professional guidance.
Ask any lawyer you are considering whether they assist executors through the estate administration process – not just the planning phase. The answer matters. Find experienced wills and estates lawyers in Ontario who handle the full scope of this work on Top Lawyers Canada.
When You Need More Than a General Practice Lawyer
To be direct about this: for a genuinely straightforward situation – longtime married couple, all children from the same relationship, primary assets are a home and registered accounts with named beneficiaries, no business interests – a competent general practice lawyer can prepare a solid will.
But you need a wills and estates specialist, or at minimum a lawyer with substantial experience in this area, when:
- You are in a second or subsequent marriage with children from different relationships
- You have a child or other dependent with a disability who relies on government benefits
- You own a business, and succession planning needs to be integrated with your personal estate plan
- You own property in more than one jurisdiction – another province, or another country
- Your estate is large enough that tax minimization is a material concern
- You want to make charitable gifts and need them structured to maximize tax efficiency
- There is a family member you want to exclude from your estate, which creates potential for a dependant support claim
- You are concerned about a will being challenged on the basis of capacity or undue influence
If any of these apply, the difference between a knowledgeable specialist and a generalist is not trivial. It can be the difference between an estate that transfers cleanly and one that ends up in court.
Find a Wills and Estates Lawyer in Ontario
Top Lawyers Canada lists experienced wills and estates lawyers across Ontario – those who handle everything from straightforward will preparation to complex estate plans, trusts, and estate administration. Every lawyer listed meets a strict standard of experience before appearing in our directory.
- Do not leave this on the list any longer.
- Wills and Estates Lawyers in Toronto
- Wills and Estates Lawyers in Ottawa
FAQ – Wills and Estates in Ontario
Do I need a lawyer to make a will in Ontario, or can I use an online service?
You are not legally required to use a lawyer. Ontario also recognizes holograph wills – handwritten entirely in your own hand and signed, with no witnesses required. Online will services exist and some people use them. The problem is that none of these alternatives give you legal advice. They generate documents based on the information you provide. What you do not know to include, or what you get technically wrong, does not get caught. A will that is improperly witnessed, ambiguously worded, or missing key provisions can be challenged, partially invalidated, or fail to accomplish what you intended. For anything beyond the most basic situation, legal advice is worth the cost.
What happens to my estate if I die without a will in Ontario?
Ontario’s Succession Law Reform Act determines the distribution. If you have a spouse but no children, your spouse inherits everything. If you have a spouse and children, your spouse receives a preferential share (currently $350,000) plus a portion of the remainder, with the rest divided among your children. If you have children but no spouse, your children share the estate equally. Common-law partners have no automatic entitlement under Ontario’s intestacy rules. They would need to make a dependant support claim, which takes time and money. And if you have no surviving relatives within a defined category, your estate passes to the Crown.
What is probate and does every estate need it?
Probate, formally called a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee in Ontario, is the court process that confirms a will is valid and gives the executor the legal authority to deal with the deceased person’s assets. Not every estate requires probate. Assets that have named beneficiaries, such as life insurance policies and RRSPs or RRIFs, jointly owned assets that pass automatically to the surviving owner, and some smaller estates may be transferred without going through the probate process. That said, most banks, investment firms, and the Land Registry Office will require probate before they release or transfer significant assets that were held solely in the deceased person’s name. A wills and estates lawyer can help you determine whether probate is likely to be needed in your situation and can also advise on planning strategies that may reduce probate fees where appropriate.
Can a will be challenged in Ontario?
Yes. The most common grounds for challenging a will in Ontario are lack of testamentary capacity (the person did not have the mental ability to make a will at the time), undue influence (someone pressured or manipulated them into making the will), and failure to meet formal requirements (improper witnessing or signing). A dependant support claim, where a spouse, child, or other dependant argues that the will fails to make adequate provision for them – is another avenue of challenge. Wills prepared by a lawyer, with proper notes about the testator’s instructions and capacity, are significantly harder to challenge successfully than wills prepared without professional involvement.
Who should I name as my executor?
Your executor, formally called your Estate Trustee in Ontario, is the person responsible for administering your estate after your death. This includes gathering assets, paying debts and taxes, dealing with probate, and distributing to beneficiaries. It is a substantial responsibility that can take months or years for a complex estate. Choose someone you trust completely, who has the organizational capacity to handle significant administrative work, and who is likely to be available and capable when the time comes. It is also worth discussing with your wills and estates lawyer whether a professional executor – a trust company or estate lawyer – makes sense as a co-executor or alternative, particularly if your estate is complex or your family dynamics make a family member appointment complicated.