Most Canadians die without a will because they think it's expensive and complicated. It isn't.
The provincial intestacy rules that kick in when someone dies without a will distribute assets by formula, not by intention. A common-law spouse of 18 years gets nothing in most provinces. A child from a first marriage can be cut out entirely depending on where the deceased lived. The estate goes through a process that costs roughly what drafting a will would have cost, except now it's being spent on administrators and court filings instead of clarity.
That's the actual cost of avoiding a will. Not theoretical harm. Real families navigating probate in Ontario or Alberta discover that intestacy doesn't save them from lawyers. It just means the lawyers are working from statutory formulas instead of the deceased's instructions.
What a will actually costs
A basic will prepared by a lawyer runs between $300 and $800 in most Canadian cities. A couple doing mirror wills together typically pays $500 to $1,200. Those figures come from the Canadian Bar Association and regional law society fee surveys, not marketing copy. For a straightforward estate, one property, a registered account or two, named beneficiaries on life insurance, the work takes two to three hours of a lawyer's time.
Online will kits cost less, usually $50 to $200, and platforms like Willful or LegalWills walk you through the process with province-specific templates. They work fine if your situation is simple: you're married or single, you have dependents or you don't, your assets are titled clearly, and you aren't trying to structure a trust or navigate blended-family dynamics.
The complication myth comes from conflating estate planning with will drafting. A will is a single document. Estate planning is the broader work: tax strategies, trust structures, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations. Most people need the will. Some need the rest. Confusing the two is how "I can't afford estate planning" becomes an excuse to skip the thing that actually matters.
What happens without one
Intestacy laws in British Columbia give the first $300,000 of an estate to a surviving spouse, then split the remainder with any children. In Ontario, the spouse gets the first $350,000 and shares the rest. If you're common-law in a province that doesn't recognize that status for intestacy purposes, your partner inherits nothing unless they go to court and fight for dependent support.
The process also names an administrator instead of an executor. That administrator is chosen by the court, often the next of kin, and they have to post a bond. The bond is insurance against mismanagement. It costs money. It delays distribution. It exists because the court doesn't know this person the way you would have known the executor you'd have named.
Provincial public trustee offices handle estates where no family member steps forward. They charge fees on a sliding scale, often 3% to 5% of the estate value. A $400,000 estate loses $12,000 to $20,000 in trustee fees before anyone sees a dollar. That's the "free" option.
The barrier is inertia, not cost
Lawyers who practice estates law say the same thing: clients don't resist the fee. They resist the conversation. Naming guardians for minor children means admitting both parents could die. Deciding who gets the cottage means navigating sibling dynamics while everyone is still alive. Writing the will forces a set of decisions most people are happy to delay.
So they do. And then they die. And the people left behind pay for the delay in court fees, family fights, and distributions that match the law's logic instead of the deceased's.
The will itself takes an afternoon.
