What is a witnessed will?
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As its name indicates, a witnessed will involves the signing of the will before two witnesses at the same time.
Any adult may act as a witness. However, it is impossible to be both beneficiary of the will and witness.
Witnesses must:
- attest (confirm) that this is your will and your signature; and
- sign the will after you.
A will prepared by a lawyer is a will made in front of two witnesses.
The will before witnesses may be handwritten, typed or written on a computer. If it is written on a computer, only a printed and signed version has legal value.
If the will is typed or typed on a computer, you must make sure that your initials (or signature) are on every page, as well as those of the witnesses. This is also true if the will is handwritten by someone other than you.
You do not have to read the contents of your will in front of the witnesses. But if you are unable to read your will yourself (for example, because you have significant vision problems), the document must be read to you by one of the witnesses in the presence of the other witness.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a witnessed will?
Advantages of the will before witnesses:
- Its greatest advantage is undoubtedly its cost, which may be non-existent if you do not use a lawyer. However, if you instruct a lawyer to draw up your will, you will have to pay his or her fees.
- You can ask the lawyer to register the will with the Registre des dispositions testamentaires of the Barreau du Québec. It will then be possible and easy to trace it.
Disadvantages of a witnessed will:
- This type of will must be verified (validated) after the death, which entails costs and delays.
- It may be lost, destroyed or damaged.
- By doing this yourself, you do not necessarily benefit from the advice of a lawyer, which is often very useful in making you think of situations you have not thought of.For example, if you are making a new will, you should think about cancelling the old one.
- Problems of interpretation. Indeed, jurists have the reflex to think about interpretation problems and to draft the content of the will accordingly.For example, if a will states that "the personal property of the deceased will be bequeathed to his favourite niece", one may wonder about the meaning of the word "personal property" and who, among all the nieces of the deceased, is his favourite.