Codicil to a Will Canada | SLRA & WESA Compliant

A codicil is a supplement to a will, not a replacement for it. It identifies the original will by date, states plainly which clause or gift it changes, and leaves everything else in the will fully intact. Estate lawyers describe it as an instrument that is meant to be read with the existing will and executed according to the same formal requirements as a will, but that only refers to the provisions being altered. Because it operates by reference, a codicil is best suited to small, self-contained changes: a new estate trustee, a corrected legacy amount, an added charity, a fresh guardian for minor children. When the changes run deep or touch many clauses at once, drafting a fresh will is the cleaner path, and most practitioners will tell you so.

The point people miss is that a codicil carries the same legal weight as the will it amends. It is not a casual note or a memorandum of wishes. Under provincial law it must be a formal testamentary document, which is why a scribbled change in the margin of your will rarely survives probate. A codicil differs sharply from a letter of wishes, which expresses preferences but binds no one. Where a letter of wishes guides your executor informally, a codicil changes the legal disposition of your estate. If you want your revised intentions to actually take effect, the codicil is the document that does the work, and our last wishes letter template for Canadian estates covers the non-binding companion document for everything a codicil should not.

Codicils are governed by the same provincial succession statutes that govern wills, and Canada has no single federal wills act. In Ontario, section 4(2) of the Succession Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.26 requires the document to be signed at its end by the testator in the presence of two attesting witnesses present at the same time, each of whom then subscribes the document in the testator's presence. A codicil must meet this identical standard, because Ontario treats a codicil as having the same signing requirements as a formal will. British Columbia sets out the equivalent rule in section 37 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, S.B.C. 2009, c. 13, and section 54 confirms that an alteration to a will must be made in the same way a valid will is made under section 37. Alberta's Wills and Succession Act and the wills legislation of the other common-law provinces follow the same two-witness architecture.

Two constraints trip people up more than any other. First, a witness who signs the codicil, or that witness's spouse, generally cannot take a benefit under it: the gift to that witness is void even though the codicil itself may stand. Choose two independent adult witnesses who inherit nothing and are not named as executor. Second, a codicil that fails the formalities is ordinarily disregarded. Some provinces now soften that outcome through curative provisions. Ontario's section 21.1 lets the Superior Court of Justice validate a non-compliant document that sets out testamentary intentions, but only where the death occurs on or after January 1, 2022, and British Columbia's section 58 gives its courts a similar power. These are expensive litigation remedies, not a substitute for signing correctly the first time. The Government of Canada's overview of wills and estate planning for Canadians sets out the broader context, and our Canadian last will and testament template applies the same statutory grounding to the underlying will.

The most frequent trigger is a change of executor. An estate trustee moves away, falls ill, ages out of the role, or simply falls out of favour, and you want a reliable replacement named without disturbing the rest of your carefully drafted plan. A codicil handles that in a page. The second common scenario is a shift in your beneficiaries: a new grandchild arrives, a marriage or separation reshapes the family, or a named beneficiary predeceases you and you want the gift redirected rather than left to lapse into the residue.

Adjusting a specific gift is the third recurring reason. Perhaps you sold the cottage you left to one child and want to equalise with a cash legacy, or you increased a charitable bequest, or the vehicle you gifted no longer exists. A codicil lets you correct the legacy without reopening every clause. Guardianship changes for minor children round out the usual cases, and here the stakes are high enough that you should never rely on a handwritten margin note. One edge case worth flagging: if you married or entered a new relationship after making your will, some provinces treat that event as affecting your will's validity, and a codicil alone may not repair the gap. Another arises when your original will already carries several codicils. At that point a new will is usually wiser, because a stack of amendments invites the interpretation disputes our Canadian power of attorney template is designed to keep out of your broader estate plan.

• The identification clause names you as testator and references your original will by its exact date, so there is no ambiguity about which will the codicil amends. Getting this reference precise matters, because a codicil that points to the wrong will or an undated will can be challenged as uncertain and set aside on probate.
• The republication and confirmation clause states that, except as expressly changed, you ratify and confirm your original will in all respects. This is the clause that keeps every untouched gift, appointment and direction fully alive, and it prevents an argument that the codicil somehow revoked more than you intended.
• The amendment provisions set out precisely what is being changed, clause by clause, using language that overrides the specific provision of the will without creating a conflict. Vague wording like "I change my executor" is replaced with a direct instruction identifying the old appointee, the new appointee, and the exact clause number being replaced.
• The execution and attestation block is drafted to provincial standards, with the testator's signature at the end and space for two independent witnesses who sign in your presence and in the presence of each other. This is the part that carries the legal weight, and the template's attestation clause records that all three parties were present together at signing.
• The optional affidavit of execution supports later probate. In Ontario, Rule 74 of the Rules of Civil Procedure calls for an affidavit of execution for a will and for every codicil, sworn by one of the witnesses, which is why completing it at signing saves your executor a scramble years later.

Ontario applies the Succession Law Reform Act, and its courts historically demanded strict compliance with the two-witness formalities. That changed with section 21.1, which since January 1, 2022 lets the Superior Court validate a document that reflects testamentary intention even when execution was imperfect, though electronic wills are excluded. Ontario also permits remote witnessing by audio-visual link under O. Reg. 431/20, provided at least one witness is a licensed Ontario lawyer. Even with these reliefs available, the safe route in Ontario remains two independent witnesses signing in person, with an affidavit of execution completed the same day.

British Columbia governs codicils through sections 37 and 54 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act. The province is notable for its generous curative power in section 58, which allows the BC Supreme Court to give effect to a record that represents the will-maker's testamentary intentions despite formal defects. That power has rescued informal documents, but the case law also shows courts refusing to save undated or unsigned notes that fail to prove a fixed and final intention. British Columbia further recognises electronic wills, a feature most other provinces have not adopted, so a BC codicil has planning options that an Ontario one does not.

Alberta relies on the Wills and Succession Act, S.A. 2010, c. W-12.2, which likewise requires two witnesses for a formal codicil and grants the Court of King's Bench a dispensing power to validate documents evidencing testamentary intent. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces follow the same common-law model, each with its own statute but the same core rule: a codicil signed and witnessed like a will is valid, and one that is not depends on a court's discretion. Quebec sits outside this framework entirely, since it operates under the Civil Code with notarial and holograph will regimes, so this template is built for the common-law provinces only.

You begin by selecting your province, which sets the correct statutory language and witnessing standard for the document. From there you identify the original will you are amending by its date and, if you have it, its reference details, so the codicil attaches unambiguously to the right instrument. The form then walks you through the specific change: whether you are replacing an executor, adjusting a gift, adding or removing a beneficiary, or updating a guardian, you enter the old provision and the new one so the amendment reads cleanly against the will. The republication clause is generated automatically, confirming the balance of your will stays in force.

When the draft is complete you download it in Word and PDF, print it, and sign it in front of two independent adult witnesses who are neither beneficiaries nor your executor. They sign in your presence and each other's, and you complete the affidavit of execution while everyone is still together. Store the signed codicil physically with your original will, and tell your executor where both live, since a codicil that cannot be found at death cannot be probated. For a related capacity document you can prepare in the same sitting, our personal care power of attorney template for Canada follows the same witnessing discipline.

The classic error is treating a codicil as informal. People write a change in the margin of their will or on a sticky note and assume it counts, but an unattested alteration made after the will is executed is ordinarily ineffective and can even invalidate the words it obscures. A codicil needs the same two-witness ceremony as the will, full stop. The second frequent mistake is choosing the wrong witnesses. A beneficiary who witnesses your codicil, or that beneficiary's spouse, generally forfeits the gift, so a well-meaning relative signing as a witness can accidentally disinherit themselves. Keep your witnesses independent and adult, and never let your executor or an heir hold the pen.

The third pitfall is leaving the original will's date out, or referencing it loosely, which opens the door to an argument that the codicil is uncertain. The fourth is stacking codicil upon codicil until the estate plan becomes a puzzle; past two or three amendments, a fresh will is almost always the better choice. Finally, many people sign correctly and then hide the codicil so well that no one finds it, or store it apart from the will it amends. A codicil is probated alongside the original will, not on its own, so the two documents must travel together. For record-keeping documents that support your estate file, our affidavit template for Canadian use handles sworn statements your executor may later need.