Pitfalls and Official Sources
Common-law couples in Canada: property, support and inheritance rights by province
What unmarried partners get on separation and death in Ontario, BC, Alberta and Quebec, including Quebec's 2025 parental union regime.
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Mistakes that invalidate wills, start family disputes or miss deadlines, claims by dependants, common-law couples' rights and where to get free help.
Estate and family disputes often start with small, avoidable errors: a will witnessed by a beneficiary's spouse, a joint bank account nobody explained, a beneficiary designation that was never updated after a separation, a missed six-month deadline. This section collects the patterns that come up again and again in Canadian courts and legal information services, and points to the official sources and free help where you can check your own situation.
Start with the overview of mistakes and official sources. Then read about homemade and holograph will mistakes, dependants' relief and wills variation claims, probate avoidance and its risks, spousal support and separation mistakes, the rights of common-law couples and free legal help for wills and family law. Nothing here is legal advice; each guide says when to see a lawyer or notary.
Guides in this topic
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Challenging a will for support in Canada: Ontario dependants' relief, BC wills variation, Alberta and Quebec
Who can claim support from an estate in Ontario (SLRA Part V), BC (WESA s. 60), Alberta and Quebec, the deadlines and what courts consider.
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Estate and family law mistakes in Canada, and the official sources to check
Common mistakes with wills, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, estates and separation in Canada, and the official sources to check.
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Free and low-cost legal help for wills, estates and family law in Canada
Free legal information and low-cost help for wills, estates, powers of attorney and separation in Ontario, BC, Alberta and Quebec, from legal aid to Éducaloi.
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Holograph and DIY will mistakes in Canada: what invalidates a homemade will
The errors that make homemade and holograph wills fail in Ontario, BC, Alberta and Quebec, how courts treat them and how to sign a DIY will safely.
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Avoiding probate in Canada: joint accounts, beneficiary designations, multiple wills and the risks
How Canadians reduce probate with joint ownership, beneficiary designations, TFSA successor holders and multiple wills, and the risks of each.
Pitfalls and Official Sources
Spousal support in Canada and the separation mistakes that cost money
How spousal support works in Canada, how Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines ranges are calculated, tax treatment and separation mistakes to avoid.