What happens if some years after executing a Will, a Will-maker
notes her intention to change her estate distribution but passes
away before taking steps to formally execute a new Will? The Court
of Appeal recently examined this question in the case of
Hadley Estate (Re), 2017 BCCA 311 ("Hadley"),
regarding whether the late Ms. Hadley's journal entry
represented a deliberate and final expression of her testamentary
intentions.
Prior to the
Wills, Estates and Succession Act, S.B.C. 2009, c. 13
("WESA") coming into force on March 31, 2014, British
Columbia was a "strict compliance" jurisdiction. This
meant that in order for a Will to be valid, it had to comply with
all the formal, legal requirements – for example, the
requirement that the Will-maker sign the Will in front of two adult
witnesses. Now, section 58 of WESA, as discussed in Hadley, gives
the Court to the power to consider and potentially cure any
"record or document" that does not meet the
