{"id":395793,"date":"2025-09-03T23:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395793\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T23:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:37:10","slug":"want-your-will-to-stand-up-in-court-skip-the-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395793\/","title":{"rendered":"Want your will to stand up in court? Skip the video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

To be considered legally binding, a will must be written and signed by you and witnesses. Video wills are not allowed in any province or territory.DNY59\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

I bought a new smartphone last week, and the camera is incredible. Using the \u201ccinematic video mode,\u201d I recorded my father telling his life story this past weekend. \u201cTim, as I\u2019ve been getting older, things are really starting to click for me. First it was my knees, then my back, neck and a few other joints.\u201d<\/p>\n

In our conversation, he began to share what he\u2019d like to do with his assets when he\u2019s gone. Now, you\u2019d think that a video recording of yourself talking about your final wishes would be as valid as any written last will and testament. <\/p>\n

But as it turns out, his will says something different, and I explained that the video we were recording wouldn\u2019t be sufficient to make sure his wishes are carried out when he\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

The Montana story<\/b><\/p>\n

This issue came up recently in a U.S. case in which the Montana Supreme Court had to consider the estate of a man named Jesse Beck. On July 15, 2022, Mr. Beck was killed in a motorcycle accident \u2013 without a written will. <\/p>\n

Just four days before his death, Mr. Beck had sent his brother, Jason, a video recording of himself in which he stated: \u201cI, Jesse Beck, give all my possessions, if anything happens to me whatsoever, I give all my possessions, everything, to Jason Beck, my brother. Christina Fontineau does not get one thing, not one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lost wills, late changes and surprise disinheritances: They\u2019re more common than you think<\/a><\/p>\n

Jason sought to have the court validate the video as Mr. Beck\u2019s last will and testament. There was limited detail in the recording about the circumstances surrounding the video, other than its delivery to Jason\u2019s phone. There were no apparent witnesses to the recording, and Mr. Beck\u2019s words were not transcribed to written form and signed by him. <\/p>\n

As for the woman mentioned in the video, she was not a relative and would not be entitled to anything from Mr. Beck\u2019s estate under the intestacy laws of Montana.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 29, 2024, the Montana Supreme Court (Mont. No. DA 24-0033) looked at the related law, which addressed \u201cwritings intended as wills\u201d and ruled that a \u201cdocument\u201d is a physical paper or possibly digital file on which words are produced and can ultimately be signed and witnessed. The court said a video recording is not considered a valid will<\/a>. Jason was out of luck.<\/p>\n

The Canadian context<\/b><\/p>\n

In Canada, as in many jurisdictions, there are safeguards that our laws require for a will to be legally binding. And these safeguards make sense to prevent fraud and provide executors with certainty around your wishes. They include documenting your wishes in writing in your will and having the will properly signed by you and witnesses.<\/p>\n

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, there was a push to modernize the creation and execution of wills with a greater focus on fully electronic versions. British Columbia was the first province to allow fully electronic wills, including e-signatures for testators (the person creating the will) and remote witnesses. Such wills became valid in December, 2021. <\/p>\n

In May, 2023, the Wills Amendment Act, 2022, was passed in Saskatchewan, allowing for the same e-signatures and remote witnessing as in B.C. In Ontario, e-signatures are not allowed on wills; remote witnessing was allowed during the pandemic, but that temporary option has now expired.<\/p>\n

When an inheritance comes with stipulations: \u2018They want control from the grave\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

All other provinces and territories require wet-ink signatures from the testator and witnesses, with no provision for e-signatures or remote witnessing.<\/p>\n

As for video wills, these aren\u2019t allowed in any province or territory. And while one might hope we\u2019ll eventually move in that direction, technology has now made it easier than ever to manipulate or create deep-fake videos<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Is that really your father talking when he says in a video that he wants to leave all his worldly possessions to just one of his three children while everyone else thought he wanted to treat the kids equally? And when your mother records in a video that she is leaving half her assets to charity, when she rarely gave money away during her lifetime, how will the family respond? I can only imagine the lawsuits. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s ironic that the proliferation of advanced technologies has increased the desire to move to a fully digital world for things such as wills, but that same technology makes it harder than ever to ascertain that wills made using video technology were really made by the testator. <\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one thing the Montana case points out, it\u2019s that your intentions for your estate are not all that matters. While making your intentions clear is critical, the legal form in which your wishes are expressed \u2013 that is, a properly written will \u2013 matters as well.<\/p>\n

Tim Cestnick, FCPA, FCA, CPA(IL), CFP, TEP, is an author and co-founder and CEO of Our Family Office Inc. He can be reached at tim@ourfamilyoffice.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: To be considered legally binding, a will must be written and signed by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[6934,6925,6935,1500,6918,6936,51,943,6917,6930,6931,6927,6919,6916,1700,2266,728,6929,474,6923,6946,6920,6921,1234,6926,388,3611,6607,603,6941,6942,6944,6939,6943,6937,6940,2499,6922,6932,6933,285,3027,6938,6924,53,183,6928,16,15,727,263,6945],"class_list":{"0":"post-395793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-finance","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-personal-finance","45":"tag-photos","46":"tag-political-news","47":"tag-political-opinion","48":"tag-politics","49":"tag-politics-news","50":"tag-quebec","51":"tag-sports-news","52":"tag-technology","53":"tag-travel","54":"tag-trudeau","55":"tag-uk","56":"tag-united-kingdom","57":"tag-us-news","58":"tag-world-news","59":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}