Free Will or Notarial Will?

Is there such a thing as a free will? Do you intend to put your affairs in order and are you thinking of drafting a will?

There are several types of wills, all of which are valid – the holographic will, the will before witnesses and the notarial will. Do you wish to have a will without any costs? A will which you draft by yourself doesn’t cost anything. Therefore, we could say that there is such a thing as a free will. We could refer to the holographic will and the will before witnesses.

The holographic will is a will entirely written by the hand of the testator, signed and preferably dated. A will that is executed before witnesses is a handwritten or drafted up type of will, which is signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses and, ideally, dated.These types of wills are valid, but they have three major disadvantages compared to the notarial will. For example, the free will has to undergo an additional procedure: it must be verified by the court or by a notary, in order to be valid. Verifying a will is an expensive procedure (around approximately 1 500,00$) and one which also takes up quite a lot of time (about 2 to 4 months), depending on the case and its complexity. More than that, you do not receive any judicial counselling from a specialist, who could explain to you all the implications and the consequences of your decisions.

The notarial will is not a free will, but its cost is minimized by comparison with other expenses, generated by the verifying procedure of a holographic will or a will before witnesses. The notarial will will be recognized at the time of the death without any other formalities. It will not undergo the verifying procedure in court and will be more difficult to contest (unless there is a false inscription). Moreover, your notarial will is at safety: the original is kept by the notary in a fireproof safe and will be registered at the wills and mandates register, at the Quebec Chamber of Notaries.

The choice is yours – free will or notarial will?

We offer our services at Montreal, Longueuil, Laval, South-Shore (Rive-Sud), North-Shore (Rive-Nord).

Me Leopold Lincà NOTARY