Alterations

Any changes made to a will after it has been signed are not valid unless they follow specific legal requirements.

These changes include erasing, adding, or crossing out parts of the will. If the changes are made properly, they must be signed or initialled by the testator (the person making the will) and witnesses.

The signatures can be made in the margin or near the change, or in a separate memorandum or codicil.

Revocation

Alteration after making a will does not raise the assumption of intention to revoke a will.

• No will is considered revoked unless:

  • another will is executed

  • some writing declaring an intention to revoke the will or part thereof and executed respecting the execution of the will

  • burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the will by the testator or by some person in the testator's direction with the intention of revoking it

Gifts to a former spouse

Unless otherwise stated in the will:

• A beneficial devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift or appointment, other than charges or direction of payment of debts, given in a will to a person who was the spouse of the testator at the time the will was made, is revoked in the following circumstances:

  • a grant of divorce has been made with respect to a legal marriage between the person and the testator;

  • a pronouncement or a declaration that the marriage between the person and the testator was a nullity has been made;

  • at the time of the death:

    • the testator and the person have been living separate and apart for a continuous period of 12 months or longer; and

    • there is no reasonable prospect of the resumption of cohabitation

  • beneficial devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift or appointment is not revoked if the person to whom it is given and the testator had reconciled such that the person was a spouse of the testator at the time of the testator’s death

  • if a devise or bequest (gift of property) made in a will to a former spouse is revoked, it should be treated as if there was no will.

Revival

A will or any part of a will that has been revoked shall not be revived other than in a re-execution or by a codicil showing an intention to revive it and executed.

• Unless an intention to the contrary is shown, when a will that has been first partly revoked and then afterwards, wholly revoked is subsequently revived, the revival does not extend to that part that was revoked before the will was wholly revoked.

YK WA s.10, 11, 12