How to Create a Will in British Columbia: A Step-by-Step Guide

Making a will is one of those tasks that stays on the list for years. It feels complicated, morbid, and easy to postpone.

In practice, for most people, it’s neither complicated nor expensive — and it’s one of the most genuinely useful things you can do for the people you love. Here’s how the process actually works in British Columbia.

Step 1: Take Stock of What You Have

Before you can decide who gets what, you need a clear picture of what exists.

Assets: real property, bank accounts, investments (registered and non-registered), vehicles, business interests, life insurance, pensions, valuable personal property, and digital assets.

Debts: mortgages, lines of credit, credit cards, loans.

Assets that pass outside the will: this matters more than most people realise. Property held in joint tenancy passes automatically to the surviving joint owner. Registered accounts (RRSP, RRIF, TFSA) and life insurance with a named beneficiary pay directly to that person. Neither is governed by your will.

If a large share of your estate passes outside the will, your will controls less than you think. Review your beneficiary designations at the same time you make your will — they’re a common source of unintended outcomes, particularly after a divorce or remarriage.

Step 2: Decide Who Receives What

Specific gifts. Particular items or amounts to particular people — a piece of jewellery to a granddaughter, $10,000 to a charity.

The residue. Everything left after debts, taxes, expenses, and specific gifts. This is usually the bulk of the estate, and how you divide the residue is the most consequential decision in the will.

Alternates. What happens if a beneficiary dies before you? Name a backup for every significant gift.

Charitable gifts. These can carry meaningful tax advantages for the estate. If you’re considering one, mention it to your lawyer.

A note specific to BC: under WESA, a spouse or child who feels they haven’t been adequately provided for can apply to vary the will — and BC courts have real discretion to do so. This province is more willing than most to adjust a will in favour of a disinherited spouse or adult child. If you intend to leave someone out or treat children unequally, tell your lawyer directly. There are ways to strengthen your position — including a memorandum explaining your reasoning — but they need to be done deliberately.

Step 3: Choose Your Executor

This is more important than most people appreciate. Your executor will manage the entire administration — potentially several hundred hours of work over twelve to eighteen months.

Choose someone organised, trustworthy, and willing. Name at least one alternate. Ask them first.

See our full guide to choosing an executor.

Step 4: Name Guardians for Minor Children

If you have children under 19, your will is where you appoint a guardian. Without that appointment, the court decides — and it may not choose who you would have.

Name an alternate. Talk to the people you’re naming before you do it. And consider whether the person best suited to raise your children is also the person best suited to manage money on their behalf — those are different skills, and you can appoint different people to each role.

Step 5: Consider a Trust for Young Beneficiaries

Under BC law, a beneficiary receives their inheritance outright at 19. For a substantial estate, that may not be what you want.

A trust within your will lets you stagger distributions — some at 25, more at 30, the balance at 35 — or leave the timing to a trustee’s discretion. This is standard drafting for anyone with minor children and meaningful assets.

Step 6: Write Down Your Funeral Wishes

You can express funeral and burial preferences in your will, but there’s a practical problem: wills often aren’t read until days or weeks after the death, by which time arrangements have already been made.

If your wishes matter to you, don’t rely on the will alone. Tell your executor and your family directly, and consider prearranging with a funeral home so the details are documented and held on file.

At Alternatives, preplanning is straightforward and carries no obligation. It means your family isn’t guessing at the hardest possible moment.

Step 7: Choose How to Make It

A lawyer or notary public. The right choice for most people. In BC, both lawyers and notaries can prepare wills. Expect roughly $400 to $1,000 for a straightforward individual will, more for complex estates involving trusts, business interests, or blended families.

Use a lawyer specifically if you have children from a previous relationship, own a business, hold property in more than one jurisdiction, have a beneficiary with a disability, plan to disinherit a spouse or child, or hold substantial assets.

Online will services. Several Canadian providers offer BC-compliant wills at low cost. These work reasonably well for genuinely simple situations — modest assets, straightforward family structure, no unusual wishes. They don’t provide advice, and they won’t catch a problem you didn’t know you had.

Will kits. Cheap and legal if executed properly, but with no guidance at all. The savings frequently prove false when the will is unclear or improperly witnessed.

One thing to know: BC does not recognise holograph wills. A handwritten, unwitnessed will is valid in several other provinces, but not here. It must be properly witnessed.

Step 8: Sign It Correctly

This is where do-it-yourself wills most often fail. In BC, a will must be:

• In writing

• Signed by you at the end of the document

• Witnessed by two people who are present at the same time

• Signed by both witnesses in your presence

Neither witness — nor a witness’s spouse — should be a beneficiary. If they are, the gift to them is presumed void. This is the single most common execution error.

Your witnesses must be at least 19. Your executor may witness the will, provided they aren’t also receiving a gift.

BC has permitted electronic wills since December 2021, with remote witnessing by video where specific requirements are met. If you’re going this route, use a lawyer who does it regularly.

Step 9: File a Wills Notice

Once your will is signed, file a Wills Notice with the BC Vital Statistics Agency. It’s inexpensive and takes minutes.

The notice doesn’t store your will — it records that a will exists and where it’s kept. After your death, your executor searches the registry to locate it. A Wills Notice Search is required before applying for probate, so this step directly helps your family.

File a new notice every time you make a new will.

Step 10: Store It Safely and Tell People

Where to keep it: with the lawyer or notary who prepared it (most store originals at no charge), in a safety deposit box, or in a fireproof safe at home.

Who should know: your executor needs to know where it is and how to access it.

Don’t: remove staples, write on it, or make marginal notes. Anything suggesting a page was added or removed creates problems in probate.

Step 11: Review It Periodically

A will isn’t finished. Revisit it after:

• Marriage, separation, or divorce

• The birth or adoption of a child or grandchild

• The death of a beneficiary or executor

• A significant change in assets

• Moving to another province

• Any meaningful change in your relationships

Note that under current BC law, marriage does not revoke a will — this changed in 2014. Separation or divorce generally does revoke gifts to a former spouse and their appointment as executor.

A review every three to five years is a reasonable habit.

What Else to Consider at the Same Time

A will only takes effect when you die. Two other documents cover what happens if you’re alive but unable to make decisions:

Representation Agreement — appoints someone to make health and personal care decisions for you.

Enduring Power of Attorney — appoints someone to manage your financial and legal affairs.

Most people should have all three. See our guide to advance care plans and living wills in BC.

Where We Fit

At Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services, we’re not lawyers and we don’t draft wills. But we do see, every week, the difference it makes when someone has planned ahead — and the difficulty when they haven’t.

If you’re getting your affairs in order, consider making funeral prearrangements part of the same effort. It takes one conversation, it locks in today’s pricing, and it means your family isn’t making decisions in the dark.

Learn more at myalternatives.ca

This article provides general information about wills in British Columbia. For advice about your specific situation, consult a qualified estate lawyer or notary public.