Millionaire's handwritten notes count as final wishes, court rules

This month there was a new case from Nova Scotia which caught my attention. Dorothy Gwendolyn Jones died in Halifax in 2015 leaving an estate worth $6,700,000. Mrs. Jones, who was 92 years old and a widow, left a valid will.

Mrs. Jones' executor obtained probate of the will and started working on the estate. While doing so, he found four notes handwritten by the deceased Mrs. Jones. Two of the notes dealt with funeral instructions. The other two gave cash bequests and distributed personal items to various people. The executor submitted all of the notes to the court to find out whether they were testamentary instruments or not. In other words, was he supposed to be following what was in these notes or not?

The judge decided that the two notes that talked about funeral and cremation were not testamentary. They didn't change what was in the will or give away anything to anyone. The judge decided that the two other notes were valid instructions for the executor to follow. The reasons given by the judge were interesting because he talked about trying to figure out what Mrs. Jones intended when she made the notes. Did she intend to add to her will? Did she intend the note to give gifts on her death? Were they just random notes she jotted down to think about later? It was pretty instructive for anyone who is in a similar situation in terms of figuring out whether a handwritten note is a codicil, a Memorandum, or nothing at all. Anyone who wants to read the entire judge's decision can do so by clicking here.

Another interesting thing about this case is this: Mrs. Jones died in September of 2015. The judge released his decision in December 2017. That is two full years while the documents made their way through the court system. Two years while the beneficiaries waited, the executor couldn't get on with his life, and legal fees flowed out of the estate. And think how much worse it would be if there was anyone contesting it! This was a case of steering a basically unopposed application through the court system.

In a recent CBC News story, lawyer Jessica Lyle speculated that Mrs. Jones might have decided to do handwritten supplements to her will because she didn't want to spend the money to have a lawyer do it. She may be right, as people certainly do think it's a way to save money. However, as  pointed out by Ms. Lyle and must be obvious to everyone, there was absolutely no cost saving when you weigh the price of a will against the price of two years in court.

When you pay a lawyer to prepare a will, you're not just buying a piece of paper. You're paying for the advice and the experience of the lawyer. You're paying for the lawyer's expertise in applying estate, tax, and family laws to your specific situation. And of course you're paying for the peace of mind that your will won't have to spend two years or more in the court system before your family can have your estate.