Many people put off making a will because they assume that if something happens to them, their family will simply know what to do. But what happens if you die without a will?
In Ontario, dying without a valid will is called dying intestate. When this happens, you do not get to decide who receives your estate. Instead, Ontario law determines who is entitled to inherit and how much they receive.
For example, if you are legally married and have children, your spouse does not necessarily receive your entire estate. Depending on the circumstances and the value of the estate, your spouse may receive a preferential share, with the remainder being divided between your spouse and your children according to the rules in the Succession Law Reform Act. But if you are in a common-law relationship, the result can be very different: a common-law spouse does not automatically inherit under Ontario’s intestacy laws. This is an important distinction that can come as a surprise to families who assume that marriage and common-law relationships are treated the same way when it comes to inheritance.
If you have no spouse or children entitled under the legislation, the Succession Law Reform Act sets out a hierarchy that can extend to parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, and other next of kin. This can produce results that are very different from what you would have chosen yourself.
There is another important issue: who will administer your estate?
When you have a will, you name the person you want to act as your estate trustee. Without a will, someone generally needs to apply to the court for authority to administer the estate. This can add time, paperwork and expense at an already difficult time for your family.
A will also allows you to make decisions that the law cannot make for you. You can choose who will administer your estate, specify who receives particular assets, make arrangements for children who are minors, and leave instructions about how and when certain gifts should be distributed.
It is also important to remember that not everything you own necessarily passes through your estate. Jointly owned property and assets with designated beneficiaries, such as certain life insurance policies or registered accounts, may pass outside the estate depending on how they are structured.
The bottom line is simple: you can either make the decisions yourself, or leave those decisions to the law.
Having a will does not prevent every complication after death, but it gives your family clear direction and allows your estate plan to reflect your wishes rather than a set of rules that may not fit your circumstances.
A will is one of the simplest ways to make sure that your wishes—not the default rules—determine what happens to the things you have spent a lifetime building.
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