Wills Act

(1) This Act applies only to wills made after March 31, 1955, and, for the purposes of this subsection, a will that is re-executed or revived by a codicil is deemed to be made at the time at which it is so re-executed or revived.

(2) The laws respecting wills and devolution by will in force in the Northwest Territories before April 1, 1955, continue in force as if unaffected by this Act with respect to wills made before that date. S.N.W.T. 2012,c.18,s.19(2),(3).

(1) A will made by a person who is under 19 years of age is not valid unless at the time of making the will the person

(2) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of an officer having custody of the records of the force in which a person was serving at the time his or her will was made setting out that the person was at the time a member of the Canadian Forces described in paragraph (1)(b) is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of that fact.

(3) A person who has made a will under subsection (1) may, while under 19 years of age, revoke that will. S.N.W.T. 2012,c.18,s.19(4).

(1) Unless otherwise provided in this Act, a will is not valid unless

(2) A holograph will, wholly in the handwriting of the testator and signed by the testator, may be validly made, without any requirements as to the presence of or attestation by any witness.

(1) A member of the Canadian Forces placed on active service pursuant to the National Defence Act (Canada), or a member of any other naval, land or air force while on active service, or a mariner or a sailor when at sea or in the course of a voyage, may make a will by a writing signed by him or her or by some other person in his or her presence and by his or her direction without any further formality or any requirement as to the presence of or attestation or signature by a witness.

(2) For the purpose of this section, a certificate signed by or on behalf of an officer purporting to have custody of the records of the force in which a person was serving at the time the will was made setting out that the person was on active service at that time, is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of that fact.

(3) For the purpose of this section, where a certificate described in subsection (2) is not available, a member of a naval, land or air force is deemed to be on active service after he or she has taken steps under the orders of a superior officer preparatory to serving with or being attached or seconded to a component of such a force that has been placed on active service. S.N.W.T. 2012,c.18,s.19(2).

(1) Insofar as the position of the signature of the testator or the person signing for the testator is concerned, a will is valid if that signature is so placed at, after, following, under, beside or opposite to the end of the will that it is apparent on the face of the will that the testator intended to give effect, by the signature, to the writing signed as his or her will.

(2) Without restricting the generality of subsection (1), a will is not affected by reason of the fact that

(3) No signature under this Act is operative to give effect to any disposition or direction that is underneath it or that follows it or that has been inserted after the signature was made.

(1) A will is not invalid by reason only of the fact that a person who attests the execution of the will is at that time or becomes at any time afterwards incompetent as a witness to prove the execution of the will.

(2) Where

that person is competent as a witness to prove the execution of the will or the validity or invalidity of the will, but, unless it is a will that is sufficiently attested without the attestation of that person or is one in which no attestation is necessary, the devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift or appointment is void so far only as concerns that person or the spouse of that person or persons claiming under either of them.

(3) Where by a will any real or personal property is charged with debt and a creditor or spouse of the creditor whose debt is so charged attests the execution of the will

(4) No person is, by reason only of being an executor of a will, incompetent as a witness to prove the execution of the will or the validity or invalidity of the will.

(5) This section shall be construed, in respect of any attestation of a will that occurs before the coming into force of section 6 of Bill 17, introduced in the third session of the fifteenth Legislative Assembly and entitled the Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, as if the definition "spouse" had not been added to subsection 28(1) of the Interpretation Act by that section. S.N.W.T. 2005,c.2,s.9.

(1) Alteration in circumstances since the making of a will does not in itself raise any presumption of an intention to revoke the will.

(2) No will or any part of a will is revoked otherwise than by

(3) A will is revoked by marriage of the testator after it is made, except where

(1) No obliteration, interlineation, cancellation by drawing lines across a will or any part of a will or other alteration made in a will after its execution is valid or has any effect, except insofar as the words or effect of the will before the alteration are not apparent or cannot be ascertained, unless the alteration is executed in accordance with the provisions of this Act respecting the execution of a will.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the will with the alteration as part of the will shall be held to be duly executed if the signatures or written initials of the testator and of the witnesses subscribing to the alteration are made in the margin or in some part of the will opposite or near to the alteration or at the foot, end of or opposite to a memorandum referring to the alteration and writing in some other part of the will or in a codicil to the will.

(1) A will or any part of a will that has been in any manner revoked shall not be revived otherwise than by its re-execution or by a codicil showing an intention to revive it and executed in accordance with the provisions of this Act respecting the execution of a will.

(2) Unless an intention to the contrary is shown, where 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 being wholly revoked.

(1) A conveyance of or other act relating to real or personal property comprised in a devise or bequest or other disposition, made or done after the making of a will, does not prevent operation of the will with respect to any estate or interest in the property that the testator had power to dispose of by will at the time of the death of the testator.

(2) Except where a contrary intention appears in the will, where a testator at the time of his or her death has a right, chose in action or equitable estate or interest that was created by a contract, conveyance or other act relating to real or personal property comprised in a devise or bequest made or done after the making of a will, the devisee or donee of that real or personal property takes the right, chose in action or equitable estate or interest of the testator.

(3) Except where a contrary intention appears by the will, where the testator has bequeathed proceeds of the sale of property and the proceeds are received by the testator before the death of the testator, the bequest is not adeemed by commingling the proceeds with the funds of the testator if the proceeds are traced into those funds.

(1) Unless a contrary intention appears by the will, where real property is devised to any person without words of limitation, the devise shall be construed to pass the fee simple or other whole estate that the testator had power to dispose of by will in the real property.

(2) Any devise or limitation that would before April 1, 1955, have created an estate tail, shall be construed to pass the fee simple or greatest estate the testator had in the land.

(3) Unless a contrary intention appears by the will, real property that is devised to the heir or heirs of the testator or of any other person shall pass to the person or persons to whom the beneficial interest in the real property would go in the case of intestacy.

(1) Where a person dies after March 31, 1955, having by will appointed a person as executor of the will, the executor is deemed to be a trustee of any residue not expressly disposed of for the person or persons, if any, who would be entitled to that residue in the event of intestacy, unless it appears by the will that the executor was intended to take the residue beneficially.

(2) Nothing in this section affects or prejudices any rights to which an executor would have been entitled, if this Act had not been enacted, in cases where there is no person who would be entitled to the residue.

(3) Where

the devise shall be construed to vest in the trustee the fee simple or whole legal estate that the testator had power to dispose of by will and not an estate determinable when the purposes of the trust are satisfied.

(4) A devise of real property to a trustee or executor shall be construed to pass the fee simple or whole estate or interest that the testator had power to dispose of by will unless a definite term of years absolute or determinable or an estate of freehold is by the devise given to the trustee or executor expressly or by implication. S.N.W.T. 2012,c.18,s.19(2).

(1) In this section, "mortgage" includes an equitable mortgage and any charge whether equitable, statutory or of any other nature and any lien or claim on freehold or leasehold property for unpaid purchase money.

(2) Where a testator has not by will, deed or other document signified a contrary intention and dies possessed of or entitled to or under a general power of appointment by his or her will disposes of any interest in freehold or leasehold property that at the time of his or her death is subject to a mortgage, that interest, as between the different persons claiming through the testator, is primarily liable for the payment or satisfaction of the mortgage debt, and every part of that interest, according to its value, shall bear a proportionate part of the mortgage debt on the whole of the mortgage debt.

(3) A contrary intention shall not be deemed to be signified by

(4) Nothing in this section affects any right of a person who is entitled to a mortgage debt to obtain payment or satisfaction of the mortgage debt out of the other assets of the deceased or otherwise.

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the manner of making, the validity and the effect of a will, so far as it relates to movable property, is governed by the law of the place where the testator was domiciled at the time of his or her death.

(2) A will made in the Northwest Territories, whatever was the domicile of the testator at the time of the making of the will or at the time of his or her death, shall, so far as it relates to movable property, be held to be well made and be admissible to probate under the laws in force in the Territories if it is made in accordance with this Act or in accordance with the law, in force at the time of the making of the will,

(3) A will made outside the Northwest Territories, whatever was the domicile of the testator at the time of making the will or at the time of his or her death, shall, so far as it relates to movable property, be held to be well made and be admissible to probate under the laws in force in the Territories if it is made in accordance with this Act or in accordance with the law, in force at the time of the making of the will,

S.N.W.T. 2012,c.18,s.19(5),(6).