Review of the Best Online Will Providers in Canada 2024

It is difficult to look beyond LegalWills.ca as the leading online Will service provider. They have been offering the service since 2000 and have the most affordable and most complete Will service options. They also serve all Canadian Provinces and Territories, are the only bilingual service across the country, and have created a number of innovative and complementary services like LifeLocker and a digital Vault. The one question mark is that the sheer number of options can make the process of writing a very simple Will a little more difficult, but you will never run into a roadblock with getting the service to support what you need to do.

The service at Willful is one of the most expensive, and it's actually difficult to see what you are getting for the additional cost. But with slick marketing, Willful has become one of the leaders in the online Will writing market. There is no doubt that if the plan for your Will matches the capabilities within the Willful software, it may be the fastest way to write a Will. The interface is thoughtfully designed and aesthetically pleasing. But when you get into the details of writing your Will, you may find that the options are much too limiting. For example, you cannot name your children as "joint executors". Furthermore, alternate distribution plans are restricted to the options that the software offers. So for example, if I wanted everything to go to my wife, but if she pre-deceases me and I want a completely different plan, it's just not supported in the software.

LawDepot is the only online Will writing service that expands beyond estate planning. They offer hundreds of legal documents from landlord and tenant agreements to recording contracts. Estate planning documents are only a part of their business. The challenge that this creates is with customer support, since any time that we tested their support team with questions related to Wills, the answers were either vague or simply incorrect. There are some great features in LawDepot, such as the ability to view your document as you create it, but the pricing is confusing, and they are the only company on this list to have received complaints through the Better Business Bureau.

Epilogue is the newest entrant to the online Will writing market, and the most expensive. Founded by two lawyers, they are currently only in three Provinces: Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, with others sure to follow. The user experience is modern and neat. One of the features that I loved is that as soon as you try to accomplish something outside of the service capabilities, Epilogue can refer you directly to a lawyer to help. When using the service, the biggest drawback is that there is no sense of where you are in the process, how much has been completed, and how long everything will take. You also cannot easily jump to different places in the process. The distribution plan for the estate is by far the most restrictive. For example, if you are married, your only option for the residual estate is to leave everything to your spouse. However, there are some neat features; for example, the selection of charities for charitable distribution is unique and clever.

FormalWill seem to offer their services primarily through Staples and Amazon. With these retailers, you are able to purchase an activation code which can be redeemed at the website. With new competitors emerging, the look and feel of FormalWill is starting to get a little dated. The service isn't as interactive, and more "form-based". As a result, it feels like completing a PDF document rather than using an interactive online service, which means that there isn't much intelligent checking. For example, if I am single, with no children, the first distribution option that it gives me is to leave everything to my spouse, which makes no sense. Also, it very quickly becomes too restrictive on the distribution plans. For example, the handling of alternate distribution plans is extremely limited. There is also no provision for mirror Wills, digital assets, lifetime interest trusts and even their trusts for minors offers a strange set up. Their "peace of mind" pricing seems to be quite stingy.