Alterations

Any writing, marking, or obliteration on a will:

• is presumed to be made after the will is made, and

• is only valid if:

  • a person creates an alteration under the same standards as a will such as by:

    • writing it down and signing it, but it needs to be

    • witnessed by two other people who are present at the same time.

    • The witnesses signing the will in the presence of the person making the will.

  • a person can make an alteration if the standards of a holographic will are satisfied, such as:

    • writing it down entirely in their own handwriting and

    • signing it without any witnesses or other requirements.

• if writing, marking or obliteration is illegible, then the court may allow the original words to be restored

• a will may be altered by another will made by the testator

Revocation

To revoke or cancel a will, the person who made it (called the "testator") can do so in several ways:

• by making a new will,

• by writing a document to revoke the old will,

• by destroying the old will, or

• by having someone else destroy it in their presence.

However, getting married or entering into a certain type of relationship agreement does not automatically cancel a will. Also, if a person's circumstances change, it doesn't necessarily mean their will is cancelled unless a specific law applies.

Just because a will is revoked, it does not mean that any previous will becomes valid.

Revival

If someone cancels part of their will, they can only bring it back into effect by creating a new will that specifically shows they want to revive that cancelled part.

If someone does revive a will, it is considered as if they created it again at the time they revived it.

AB Will and Succession Act s.22-25