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Notaries, who specialize in succession planning, are the right advisors for a testamentary trust. They will be able to tell you whether this type of planning is appropriate for you.Dans le cadre d'une succession « ordinaire », le legs d'une somme ou d'un bien est éventuellement remis à l'héritier désigné. En matière de fiducie testamentaire, l'objet du legs n'est pas directement remis à l'héritier, mais plutôt à une fiducie. C'est elle qui assumera par la suite la gestion des sommes en fonction des directives que vous aurez prévues dans le testament.

Quebec law recognizes three forms of wills: notarial wills, holograph wills and wills made in the presence of witnesses. A notarial will is drawn up according to your instructions by a notary. With the notary’s professional legal drafting skills, your last wishes will be expressed clearly and in accordance with the requirements of the law. A notarial will takes effect upon death and is not subject to probate. The law recognizes notaries’ status as a public officers, which enables them to invest wills with authenticity. Once they execute the will, the notary will also register your will in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre de notaires du Québec. As the notary must keep the original in a safe place, it is protected against loss or damage and may easily be traced after the testator’s death. A holograph will is a document entirely handwritten and signed by the testator. When the succession is opened, the holograph will must be probated by a notary or a court. This procedure requires a sworn declaration by a person who is not mentioned in the will and is familiar with the deceased’s handwriting and signature. It also generates significant costs in addition to considerably delaying the liquidation of the succession. A will made in the presence of witnesses is a document that need not be written by the testator, but must be signed by the testator and two witnesses at the same time. It must also be probated by a notary or the court after the testator’s death. One of the witnesses will be called to confirm that the formalities are compliant. We invite you to contact a notary for more information.

A liquidator is an administrator of a succession’s property. They are responsible for ensuring the complete execution of the deceased’s wishes and performing each of the steps in the liquidation of a succession. Any succession, whether it be testamentary or legal (without a will, also known as an intestate succession), must be settled by a liquidator. The person designated as liquidator is usually a trusted relative or friend of the testator. In a legal succession, this role is given to the heirs. They can perform their duties collectively, share the tasks, or designate one heir to act as liquidator. If the heirs do not agree among themselves, the court will appoint the liquidator of the succession. We invite you to contact a notary for more information on your rights and obligations.Dans une succession légale, ce rôle est dévolu aux héritiers. Ces derniers peuvent jouer collectivement ce rôle, se partager les tâches ou encore désigner l'un d'entre eux pour agir à titre de liquidateur. Si les héritiers ne s'entendent pas entre eux, c'est le tribunal qui désignera le liquidateur de la succession. Nous vous invitons à communiquer avec un notaire pour plus d'informations sur vos droits et vos obligations.

Only the notary who executed the will, or the assignee (if the notary is deceased or retired) may issue a certified copy of a will. You must therefore contact your notary to obtain a new authentic copy of the will. If you do not have the contact information for this notary, you may search the roll of the Order with our Find a Notary tool or call the Chambre des notaires. If you do not know the name of the notary who executed the will, you can perform a will search in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

The Chambre des notaires does not publish document templates online, as notarized documents are written according to the needs of individuals and may vary from one person to another. For example, a will is a personalized document that must accurately reflect the testator’s last wishes. There are indeed models and forms. Legally, however, they are the same as holograph wills or wills made in the presence of witnesses and are thus subject to a probate procedure after death. This procedure entails additional costs and delays. As for a notarial will, it has the advantage of being drawn up by a notary who ensures that the document faithfully reflects the testator’s last wishes and that it meets all validity conditions required by law. In addition, a notary keeps the original in a safe place and records the existence of the will in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre des notaires. Finally, a notarial will takes effect upon death, without any probate procedure.

Wills are confidential documents. Upon the death of the testator, only the persons affected by the succession may consult it. An heir may ask the liquidator for a copy of the provisions of the will that concern them. If a person is named as a legatee by particular title of material property identified in the will, they have the right to obtain information concerning their legacy. If they are designated the legatee of a share of the entirety of deceased’s property, they may request a full copy of the will, not just a part of it. Note, however, that since the entry into force of the new Code of Civil Procedure, notaries are required to inform the heirs and the persons who would have inherited in the absence of a will of the existence of a deceased’s will. If a notary refuses to do so, an application may be filed with the court. We invite you to search the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the Barreau du Québec to find the name of the notary who executed the last will.

Is it not possible to obtain a copy of previous wills revoked by the testator. First, a search of the Register of Testamentary Dispositions will only show the last will registered there. Second, subject to a court decision, only the testator may obtain a copy of the previous wills that they have revoked. Such wills are protected by professional secrecy. Therefore, a notary may not produce a copy.

No. Only the testator or a notary mandated for this purpose who has the testator’s authorization may obtain a copy of a person’s will while they are still alive. A testator can obtain a copy of their will by contacting their notary directly. If the testator does not have their notary’s contact information, they may contact the Chambre des notaires. If the testator does not know the name of the notary who executed their last will, they will have to request a will search in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre des notaires. If the testator lives in the Montréal area, they may apply in person by providing two pieces of photo identification and paying a fee of $23.00 (taxes included). If the testator is unable to travel or if they live in a remote area, they may contact the notary of their choice who will send a request for a search in the Register on presentation of two pieces of identification. The testator will obtain a search certificate bearing the name of the notary and the date of the last will from the Registrar. Note that a search request for a living person cannot be made by mail. Le testateur peut obtenir une copie de son testament en communiquant directement avec son notaire. Si le testateur ne connaît pas les coordonnées de son notaire, il peut communiquer avec la Chambre des notaires. Si le testateur ignore le nom du notaire qui a reçu son dernier testament, il devra présenter une demande de recherche auprès du Registre des testaments de la Chambre des notaires. Si le testateur habite dans la région de Montréal, il peut présenter sa demande en personne en fournissant deux pièces d'identité comportant une photo et en payant les frais de 23 $ (taxes incluses). Si le testateur ne peut pas se déplacer ou s’il habite en région éloignée, il peut s'adresser au notaire de son choix qui, sur présentation des deux pièces d'identité, pourra transmettre une demande de recherche au Registre. Le testateur obtiendra du Registre un certificat de recherche portant le nom du notaire et la date du dernier testament. Notez qu'une demande de recherche pour une personne vivante ne peut pas être présentée par la poste.

The revocation of a will is done by signing an act of revocation. An act of revocation signed at a notary’s office must be registered in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre des Notaires du Québec. If the act is not notarized, additional steps will be required to validate the act of revocation at the time of your death. On the other hand, making a new will will nullify the old one, save for some exceptions. You do not have to deal with the notary who executed the will to have it annulled, and you may use another notary. Also, if you want to have a deceased person’s will annulled, you will have to go to court. You will have to prove that the deceased person did not have the legal capacity to make a will or that they were coerced. We invite you to contact a notary for more information on your rights and obligations.Par ailleurs, si vous voulez faire annuler le testament d'une personne décédée, vous devrez vous adresser au tribunal. Il vous faudra faire la preuve que la personne décédée n'avait pas la capacité légale de faire un testament ou qu'elle a été influencée. Nous vous invitons à communiquer avec un notaire pour plus d'informations sur vos droits et vos obligations.

This will is executed before a notary and a witness. It offers the greatest benefits.

A change must be made by a will, in one of the three accepted forms. A testator may set their wishes down entirely in handwriting and sign their testament. This is called a “holograph will.” A testator may also make a will made in the presence of witnesses (like the one prepared by a lawyer). In this case, the changes are written by hand by someone other than the testator, or using a typewriter or on a computer. The testator must sign the document in the presence of two witnesses. Finally, there is the notarial form, where the testator goes before a notary, who will prepare the will and have it signed. It is important to note that for the first two forms, the validity of the will must be verified by a notary or judge after death through a probate procedure. Doing so is time-consuming and costly, not to mention the fact that the changes will be rejected if they do not meet the conditions established by law. A notarial will is often the most cost-effective solution in the long term, because there are no formalities to be completed to validate the will after death given that it is valid by its signing alone. We invite you to contact a notary for more information.Il est important de noter que pour les deux premières formes, il faudra faire la vérification de la validité du testament par un notaire ou un juge après le décès. Cette procédure est longue et coûteuse sans mentionner le fait que la modification sera rejetée si elle ne respecte pas les conditions établies par la loi. Le testament notarié reste souvent la solution la plus économique à long terme, car au décès, il n'y a aucune formalité à accomplir pour le valider puisqu'il est valide par sa seule signature. Nous vous invitons à communiquer avec un notaire pour obtenir plus d'informations.

Quebec law recognizes three forms of wills: notarial wills, holograph wills and wills made in the presence of witnesses. A notarial will is drawn up according to your instructions by a notary. With the notary’s professional legal drafting skills, your last wishes will be expressed clearly and in accordance with the requirements of the law.

To find out if you are an heir or not, we invite you to read the deceased’s will to see how legacies are provided for. If you have difficulty understanding the will, we invite you to contact a notary for advice. To find out whether a will exists, you must perform a will search in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of the Chambre des notaires du Québec. You will obtain a search certificate and, if applicable, the contact information of the notary holding the document you are looking for. To conduct your search, you need the deceased’s death certificate issued by the Registrar of Civil Status. It is possible for you to order it directly from the Registrar of Civil Status without the need to contact the new spouse of your mother or father. Note that you must make two will search requests: one with the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the other with the Barreau du Québec.

It is possible to provide for more than one liquidator in a will. Where this is the case, the way in which decisions will be made is generally provided for. If there is no such provision in the will, then the law will be applied and they will have to act together. It is also possible to designate one or more replacements in case the persons designated die before you or refuse to accept the responsibilities of liquidator. We invite you to contact your notary, who will advise you on this subject.

A liquidator is usually appointed to a succession in the will. If there is no will, the responsibility falls, as of right, to the heirs, who will designate a liquidator by majority vote. The Civil Code does not require such appointment to be made by notarial act. However, a notarial act is certainly the best way for the appointed liquidator to prove their legitimacy to act with the financial institutions and creditors of the deceased. Finally, the court may also, at the request of an interested party, appoint a liquidator.

Liquidating (settling) a succession involves several steps that must be carried out in accordance with the law. They begin on the day of death and continue until the final handing over of the property to the heirs.

Unfortunately, the Chambre des notaires is unable to trace notarial wills executed before that date. If the will is that of a person who died before 1994 and that person owned immovable property, a copy of the will may be obtained by consulting the land register. Indeed, before 1994, wills were published in the land register at the same time as the declaration of transmission of the immovable. Otherwise, you may search by identifying the notaries who practised in the municipality where the deceased resided and calling each of them.

In order to benefit from the protections of the law, the settlement of a succession requires that each of the steps be carried out in accordance with the law, from the day of death until the final delivery of the property to the heirs. Standard procedures include, but are not limited to, the following: - Obtaining proof of death - Performing a will search - Having the will probated - Opening an account at a financial institution - Analyzing testamentary dispositions - Appointing a liquidator if there is no will - Making the inventory - Exercising the heirs’ option - Claiming life insurance, pension and annuity benefits - Completing tax formalities - Liquidating the family patrimony and matrimonial rights - Publishing notices - Managing the succession’s assets - Paying debts and specific legacies - Rendering of accounts - Partitioning the succession’s assets - Delivering the property Where the succession is solvent, the heirs may unanimously decide to liquidate the succession without following the prescribed rules. However, if they do so, they will be required to pay the debts of the succession in excess of the value of the property they will take. We recommend that you be cautious and consult a notary in this regard.

Although there is no obligation to perform a will search, doing so is almost unavoidable. First, the deceased may have a will that is several years old or a more recent one that they preferred to keep secret. Second, financial institutions and government agencies require proof of a will search and a copy of the deceased’s last will before proceeding with the transfer of assets. A search in the Register of Testamentary Dispositions is the best way for the liquidator of a succession to fulfill their obligation to search for the deceased’s will. We invite you to contact a notary for more information on your rights and obligations.

In Quebec, there are two registers of testamentary dispositions: that of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and that of the Barreau du Québec. Provided that an application is filed with all required documents, the time limits for obtaining search certificates are calculated in the same way for both registers: • If the death occurred less than two weeks ago, your search certificates will be mailed within three weeks of receiving your application. • If the death occurred more than two weeks ago, your search certificates will be mailed within two weeks of receiving your application.

In Quebec, a declaration of heredity may be required when a person dies without a will. Its purpose is to identify who are the heirs of the deceased. It does not necessarily have to be a notarial act, although many institutions require that to ensure that the declaration is made in accordance with the law. If there is a will or a testamentary clause in a marriage contract, there is no need for a declaration of heredity. We invite you to contact a notary for more information on your rights and obligations.

Any person interested in the succession who produces a copy of the death certificate issued by the Registrar of Civil Status may a request a will search with the Register of Testamentary Dispositions of Québec. However, the Civil Code expressly provides that the liquidator is responsible for establishing whether or not the deceased had made a will. You may also ask a notary to perform the necessary research. Finally, note that to respect the confidentiality of the process, the Register only shares the results of the search with the person who requested it.

There are protective trusts, control trusts, alter ego trusts, testamentary trusts, etc. Setting up a trust may prove quite advantageous for a number of reasons, notably for tax purposes, but not in all situations. Before setting up a trust, make sure the trust setup and management costs justify it. The notary can explain and determine whether a trust is right for you.

Note that the Chambre des notaires does not hold any notarial deeds. Deeds executed by notaries are not sent to the Chambre, instead notaries keep the deeds in their own records and only report the existence of testamentary dispositions and protection mandates to the appropriate registers. If you would like to search for a will or protection mandate, we invite you to read the relevant procedure.

Depending on the situation, deeds can also be kept by a provisional custodian, an assignee or the Superior Court.

To obtain a copy of a notarial deed, you must:

If you know the name of the notary who executed the notarial deed, use the Find a notary search tool (second tab called “Check whether a notary is registered on the Order’s listing”).

o Make sure to enter the exact spelling of the first name and last name, as registered in the Order’s roll, otherwise you will not get any results.
o The search results will indicate the contact information of the notary and/or the holder who can deliver an authentic copy of the deed, subject to providing the required proofs and professional secrecy.
o If there are multiple holders, refer to the year of the deed you are looking for to get the contact information of the current holder.

If you don’t know the name of the notary who executed the notarial deed, use the Find a notary search tool (first tab called “Find a notary in private practice”) to find a notary nearby who can help you with the process.

A testamentary trust is a tool that makes it possible to give capital or income to certain persons without giving them control of the property or income, for control, tax or protection reasons. A testamentary trust makes it possible to give instructions, while you are alive, regarding the management of the sums bequeathed to one or more persons upon your death. It is often used to protect relatives who are more vulnerable. In the context of an “ordinary” succession, a bequeathed sum or asset will ultimately be handed over to the designated heir. With a testamentary trust, the legacy is not given directly to the heir, but rather to a trust, which will then be responsible for managing the sums according to the instructions in your will.

A will allows you to express your wishes regarding the distribution of your property after your death. You can designate the person or persons to whom the property will be bequeathed and the share that each will receive. If you do not have a will, the law will decide on your heirs and their shares.