Do I have to submit my will to the Wills Registry for it to be valid? It costs $50?

Hi anon,

The validity of a will depends on the following factors:

1. The will must be committed to writing.

2. The testator must be at least 21 years old.

3. The testator must sign the will at the foot of the will.

4. The testator’s signature must be witnessed by 2 or more witnesses, who must also sign the will in his presence.

5. The 2 main witnesses cannot be beneficiaries of the will, or spouses of beneficiaries.

However, it not not necessary to register your will with the Wills Registry. The Will Registry is merely to keep a record that you have a will, but they do not store the will itself. What they store is:

1. The information of the testator (the person who made the will)

2. The address of the testator

3. The details of the person who drew up/drafted the will

4. The details of where the will is held (plus a second location if there is a duplicate original)

Thus you can see that the validity of the will might not be there even if you register it in the registry. For example, the testator did not sign at the foot of the will (though this is unlikely). This invalidates the will, but the Will Registry won't know about this.

Yes, the cost is $50.