By Jaswal Law | February 17th 2026 | Family Law
You finally got around to making a will – congratulations! But here’s what most people don’t realize: creating your will isn’t a one-and-done task. Life changes, and your will needs to change with it.
At Jaswal Law, we regularly meet clients whose wills are dangerously outdated. The executor they named passed away five years ago. They’re leaving everything to an ex-spouse they haven’t spoken to in a decade. These situations create legal nightmares and family conflicts that proper updates could have prevented.
Here are ten critical life events that should trigger an immediate will review.
Getting married is one of the most significant legal events in your life—and it has dramatic implications for your will.
What Happens Under Alberta Law:
In Alberta, marriage automatically revokes any will you made before getting married, unless that will was made “in contemplation of marriage” to that specific person. If you die without a valid will after marriage, Alberta’s intestacy laws take over.
Second Marriages Require Extra Attention:
Second marriages create complex estate planning challenges. You want to provide for your new spouse while ensuring your children from your first marriage receive their inheritance. Without careful planning, either your new spouse or your children could be left with nothing.
What to Do:
Update your will within the first few months of marriage. Review beneficiary designations on life insurance, RRSPs, and TFSAs—these don’t automatically change when you marry. Consider strategies like life insurance policies naming your children as beneficiaries or trusts that provide income to your spouse during their lifetime with capital going to your children after.
The moment you become a parent, your estate planning needs change dramatically. You’re now responsible for vulnerable dependents who need protection if something happens to you.
Critical Issues That Arise:
The most important reason to update your will after having children is to name guardians. If both parents die without naming guardians, the court decides who raises your children. This decision might not align with your values, and the process can tear families apart.
Children inherit assets at age 18 in Alberta unless you establish trusts. Most 18-year-olds aren’t prepared to manage significant inheritances responsibly. Your will should create testamentary trusts that hold assets until your children reach a more mature age.
What to Do:
Update your will within months of your child’s birth or adoption. Name both primary and alternate guardians. Establish testamentary trusts with clear instructions about how and when funds should be distributed. Review and update beneficiary designations on all accounts and insurance policies.
Divorce creates urgent estate planning concerns that many people overlook while dealing with the emotional challenges of family breakdown.
What Alberta Law Says:
In Alberta, divorce automatically revokes gifts to your former spouse in your will and removes them as executor. However, separation without divorce doesn’t have this effect – your separated spouse remains entitled to inherit under your will until you’re legally divorced.
Many people separate for a year or more before divorcing. If you die during this separation period with an outdated will, your estranged spouse could inherit your entire estate.
What to Do:
Update your will immediately after separation, not just after divorce. Don’t wait for the divorce to be finalized – that could take over a year. Review and change all beneficiary designations on every account and policy. Update beneficiary designations on life insurance, RRSPs, TFSAs, and pension plans – these don’t automatically change with divorce and aren’t affected by your will.
When someone named in your will dies, your estate plan has a gap that needs immediate attention.
Death of Your Executor:
If your executor dies and you haven’t named an alternate, the court must appoint someone, creating delays, additional costs, and potential family conflicts. Many people name their spouse as executor without naming an alternate. If you and your spouse die together in an accident, there’s no one authorized to handle your estates.
Death of a Beneficiary:
When a beneficiary dies, what happens to their intended inheritance depends on how your will is worded. Without clear instructions, legal disputes can arise.
What to Do:
Review your will whenever someone named in it – executor, beneficiary, guardian, or trustee – dies. Name multiple layers of alternates for all key roles. Consider naming a trust company as ultimate backup executor if all your personal choices become unavailable.
Your will was written when you owned a modest condo and had $50,000 in savings. Now you own multiple properties, have substantial investments, or inherited your parents’ estate. Your old will doesn’t reflect this new reality.
Why Asset Changes Matter:
If your will leaves “my house at 123 Main Street” to your daughter but you’ve since sold that house and bought a different one, this bequest fails. Small estates have simple tax implications, but large estates require sophisticated tax planning to minimize the tax hit when you die. Your beneficiaries could lose hundreds of thousands to unnecessary taxes without proper planning.
What to Do:
Review your will whenever your assets increase or decrease significantly – generally when net worth changes by 25% or more. Consider updating specific bequests to refer to “my primary residence” rather than specific addresses. Work with your lawyer to structure your estate in tax-efficient ways.
If you own a business, engage in comprehensive succession planning that coordinates with your will. Your business likely represents most of your estate’s value – don’t leave its distribution to generic will language.
Estate law is provincial, and moving to a different province can create complications with your existing will.
Why This Matters:
If you named someone in another province as executor, they may face challenges getting appointed in Alberta courts. Different legal terms and property laws between provinces can create confusion and complications. If you own property in multiple provinces, you may need separate wills for property in each province to simplify probate.
What to Do:
Have your will reviewed by an Alberta lawyer when you move here, even if it was professionally drafted elsewhere. The review is relatively inexpensive and can identify potential problems before they become crises. Update executor appointments to include Alberta residents who can easily navigate local courts and processes.
A serious illness, disability, or chronic health diagnosis changes your estate planning priorities and timeline.
Why Health Changes Demand Updates:
If your health is declining, you may eventually lose the mental capacity to make or change a will. Updating your will while you still have capacity ensures your current wishes are documented. Health changes often mean you’re relying heavily on specific family members for care, and you might want to recognize this in your estate plan.
What to Do:
Update your will promptly if you receive a serious health diagnosis. Don’t wait – your capacity to make changes might disappear faster than expected. Review your Personal Directive to ensure it accurately reflects your current healthcare wishes. Consider whether your executor choice still makes sense given your changed circumstances.
Family dynamics shift constantly – estrangements, reconciliations, new grandchildren, children who’ve demonstrated financial irresponsibility, or relatives who’ve proven themselves capable and trustworthy.
Common Relationship Changes:
If you’ve become estranged from a child, your will likely still leaves them a substantial inheritance. In Alberta, you have the right to disinherit adult children, though they can challenge the will. When an adult child is going through bankruptcy, has a serious addiction, or has demonstrated financial irresponsibility, leaving them a large inheritance outright might do more harm than good.
The birth of grandchildren often triggers reconsideration of estate distribution. If your child divorces, you might worry about their ex-spouse benefiting from your estate through your child’s inheritance.
What to Do:
Review your will after major family relationship changes – reconciliations, estrangements, births, or divorces. Consider whether direct inheritances are still appropriate or whether trusts would better protect your intentions. If you’re disinheriting or reducing someone’s inheritance, document your reasons in a separate letter to your lawyer.
Business ownership creates unique estate planning challenges that generic wills can’t address.
Starting a Business:
Who will run the business if you die? Should it be sold? Your will needs explicit instructions. Your business might represent 80% of your estate’s value, but it doesn’t generate cash to pay estate debts and taxes. Life insurance can provide liquidity to prevent being forced to sell the business at fire-sale prices.
What to Do:
When starting a business, have your lawyer draft provisions specific to business succession. Consider life insurance to provide estate liquidity. If you have partners, execute buy-sell agreements that coordinate with your will. When selling a business, immediately review your will to address the changed asset picture.
Retirement marks a major life transition that demands estate planning attention, even if you’re healthy and expect many more years.
Why Retirement Matters:
Your wealth shifts from future earnings potential to accumulated assets. Your registered accounts (RRSPs, RRIFs) become your primary assets and need careful beneficiary planning. Many Albertans retire elsewhere, which creates the interprovincial considerations discussed in item #6.
What to Do:
Review your will within the first year of retirement. Examine all beneficiary designations on registered accounts and life insurance. Revisit your executor choice – the person who made sense 20 years ago might not be the best choice now. Consider income-splitting strategies, charitable giving plans, and other sophisticated estate planning tools.
Failing to update your will creates real problems: beneficiaries who shouldn’t inherit do while those who should don’t, estates get delayed in court proceedings, families fight over unclear instructions, unnecessary taxes consume assets, and business succession creates chaos instead of smooth transition.
We’ve seen outdated wills create years of litigation, destroy family relationships, and cost hundreds of thousands in legal fees – all preventable with timely updates.
Review your will every 3-5 years even if no major life events occur. Update your will within months of any item on this list happening. Keep your updated will somewhere safe where your executor can find it.
Remember that your will is just one piece of estate planning. Also review and update beneficiary designations on life insurance, RRSPs, and TFSAs, your Power of Attorney for financial affairs, and your Personal Directive for healthcare decisions.
If you’re reading this list and realizing your will is outdated, don’t panic – but don’t procrastinate either. The whole point of a will is having it in place before you need it.
At Jaswal Law, we make will updates straightforward and affordable. Our estate planning services include a thorough review of your existing will, discussion of any life changes, and updated documents that reflect your current circumstances.
Ready to ensure your will reflects your current life? Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation. Call us at 780-737-9999 or email info@jaswal-law.ca.
Serving families throughout Beaumont, Edmonton, Leduc, Nisku, Sherwood Park, Camrose, Wetaskiwin, and surrounding communities.
Disclaimer: This blog post provides general information about common parenting mistakes during separation and should not be considered legal advice. For advice about your particular situation, please consult with a qualified family lawyer.