Guides
Separating doesn't cancel your will in BC, but it changes what the will does
Under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, gifts to a separated spouse and their role as executor fall away on their own. The rest of the will stays, and some documents aren't touched at all.
Guide
Separation and your will
This guide follows
- Family agreement
- Title and mortgage
- Will and estate plan
The short answer
A separation does not revoke a will in British Columbia. What it does is narrower. Under section 56 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (WESA), once you and your spouse stop being spouses, any gift to them in your will and any appointment of them as executor or trustee is revoked, and the will is read as though your spouse had died before you. A will can override that by showing it meant those provisions to survive a separation.
For married spouses the trigger is separation, not divorce. For unmarried spouses it is the end of the marriage-like relationship. Everything else in the will stays in force, including gifts to children and the choice of guardian.
Beneficiary designations on an RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, pension or life insurance policy are a separate question, and a designation naming your former spouse may still pay out to them. The reliable fix is a new will, signed early, with designations and powers of attorney changed to match.
This guide follows three documents
- Family agreement
- Title and mortgage
- Will and estate plan
updated October 19, 2026
Does separating cancel my will in BC?
No. Your will survives a separation. Section 56 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act cancels only what the will gives your former spouse: gifts to them, their appointment as executor or trustee, and certain powers given to them. Everything else, including gifts to children, relatives and charities, stays as written until you make a new will.
The mechanism is a deemed death: the will is read as if your former spouse had died before you, so the clauses saying what happens if your spouse doesn't survive you now apply. What section 56 does to your estate depends on what those fall-back clauses say.
The section gives way to a contrary intention. If the will says a gift to your spouse is to stand even after a separation, it stands. Few wills say that, and a vague clause invites a dispute between your former spouse and the people who would otherwise inherit.
Marriage, which revoked a will under the old Wills Act, no longer does. How the older rules affect a will made before WESA came into force is covered in the questions at the end.
When does BC law treat us as separated for my will?
For married spouses, spousal status ends for WESA purposes when you separate in the Family Law Act sense, which can happen while you still share a home. For unmarried spouses, it ends when either of you ends the marriage-like relationship. Neither needs a divorce, a court filing or a written agreement for the will to be affected.
The Family Law Act accepts that spouses can separate under one roof. What matters is an intention to end the relationship, shown by what one spouse tells the other or by what either does: moving to a separate bedroom, splitting finances, telling family and friends. Nothing is filed and no registry records the date, so it can be disputed later; writing it down, in an email or the separation agreement, helps.
A brief attempt to reconcile doesn't necessarily reset the separation under the Family Law Act, but those rules are technical and turn on the facts.
Unmarried couples face an earlier question: whether you were ever spouses. Under section 2 of WESA, an unmarried partner becomes a spouse only after at least two years in a marriage-like relationship. If your partner never reached that point, section 56 doesn't apply, so a gift to them in your will survives the split until you change it.
Who inherits if I die before I update my will?
Whoever your will names as alternates. Because the will is read as if your former spouse died first, a gift to them passes to the person named in their place, often your children, and the alternate executor takes over. If the will names no alternate, that part of the estate may pass under the intestacy rules instead.
A typical couple's will leaves everything to the spouse and, if the spouse doesn't survive, to the children in equal shares, held in trust until a set age. After separation that clause sends everything to the children's trust, with the alternate executor in charge. That may be close to what you want, unless the alternate executor is your former spouse's brother or parent.
If a gift fails and the will names no one else, the property generally falls into the residue. If the residue gift is the one that fails, the intestacy rules in Part 3 of WESA decide where that part goes.
If no executor is left, someone has to apply to court for a grant of administration with will annexed, and that person may not be someone you would have picked.
What if I die without a will while separated?
Your separated spouse is no longer your spouse under the intestacy rules, so they inherit nothing. Under Part 3 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, your estate goes to your descendants, or if you have none, to your parents and then other relatives in a fixed order. A new partner who isn't yet a spouse receives nothing either.
For parents of young children, intestacy raises two different questions. The first is who looks after the children. The other parent usually remains a guardian and carries on; a will is the usual way to appoint someone to act alongside them, or in their place if they can't. The second is who manages the money the children inherit. Without a will naming a trustee, a minor's inheritance is generally paid to the Public Guardian and Trustee, which holds it until the child comes of age.
With a will, you decide who manages that money instead: you can name a trustee, choose the age at which each child receives their share, and pick someone other than the other parent.
Someone also has to be appointed to administer the estate. Without a will, the statute sets the order of who may apply, and a separated spouse is no longer first in line.
Can my separated spouse still claim against my estate?
Not by asking to vary your will, which is open only to a person who is your spouse when you die. A property claim under the Family Law Act is different: depending on timing, your former spouse may still pursue their share of family property against your estate, unless a signed agreement has already settled it.
Section 60 of WESA lets a spouse or child ask the court to vary a will that doesn't adequately provide for them, and the claim must be started within 180 days after the grant of probate. Because separation ends spousal status, a separated spouse generally has no standing to bring it. Your children do, whatever your arrangement with their other parent.
The Family Law Act claim concerns property, not inheritance. Each separated spouse has an interest in family property from the date of separation, and that interest doesn't disappear because one of them dies. The estate may face a claim for the former spouse's share, subject to the Act's time limits.
A signed separation agreement that divides the property and releases further claims generally binds your estate as it would have bound you. That is a strong reason to finish the agreement, and to say in it what happens if either of you dies before its terms are carried out.
What about my RRSP, TFSA, pension and life insurance?
Designations are separate from your will. A beneficiary named directly with a plan administrator or insurer may still receive the money after you separate, because section 56 deals with gifts in a will. Change each designation in writing with each administrator, unless a separation agreement or order requires one to stay, such as life insurance securing support.
Part 5 of WESA lets you name a beneficiary of an RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, pension or similar plan, either on the plan's own form or in your will. Life insurance designations are made under the Insurance Act. A designation on the plan's form sends the money to the named person outside your estate, whatever your will says. A designation made inside a will may be affected by separation differently, which is one more reason to check how each was made.
Pensions add their own rules. Many registered pension plans give a spouse a death benefit that overrides any designation, and whether a separated spouse still counts depends on the plan and the legislation that governs it. The administrator can tell you whom it currently treats as your spouse and which form changes that.
Some designations can't be changed on your own. An irrevocable insurance designation needs the beneficiary's consent, and a separation agreement may require you to keep a policy in favour of a former spouse or the children to secure support. Then the designation stays, and the will is written around it.
What should I sign now, and what can wait for the separation agreement?
Sign a new will now, choosing an executor, a guardian and a trustee for your children with the separation in mind, and replace any power of attorney or representation agreement that names your spouse. Estate terms that depend on the property division, such as insurance kept for support and releases of claims, belong in the separation agreement.
A will made during a separation is written knowing the agreement is coming. It can leave your share of the home to your children or a trust for them, name someone other than your former spouse as executor, and appoint a guardian to act with the other parent. Once the agreement is signed, check that the will still fits it: if the agreement gives you the whole home, the will should deal with all of it.
An enduring power of attorney lets someone manage your finances, and a representation agreement lets someone make personal and health care decisions, if you can't. The Power of Attorney Act and the Representation Agreement Act have rules on what happens to a spouse's appointment when the relationship ends, but the cleaner course is to revoke the old documents in writing, tell anyone who relied on them, such as your bank, and sign new ones.
In the separation agreement, estate terms usually cover what happens if one of you dies before the agreement is carried out, any duty to keep life insurance, and a release by each of you of claims against the other's estate. Whether a release holds depends on its wording and on how the agreement was made, including whether each of you had separate advice.
What to do, in order
- 1
Read the will as it stands
Strike out every gift to your spouse and their role as executor, and see who the alternates are. That is the will that applies today.
- 2
Sign a new will
Choose an executor, an alternate, a guardian and a trustee for the children with the separation in mind.
- 3
Replace the other documents
Change designations unless an agreement or order requires them, and replace powers of attorney and representation agreements.
- 4
Match the will to the agreement
Once the separation agreement is signed, review the will so it deals with the property you now own outright.
Common questions
We're separated but not divorced. Is my spouse still my executor?
No, unless your will shows you wanted them to stay executor after a separation. Under section 56 of WESA, separation alone revokes the appointment, so your alternate executor, if you named one, takes the role. If you didn't, someone will have to apply to court to administer the estate. A new will settles who it is.
My separation agreement already deals with property. Do I still need a new will?
Yes. A separation agreement divides what you own now. It doesn't say who receives your estate, who acts as executor or who manages your children's inheritance. The old will, with the gifts to your spouse struck out, may send the estate where you no longer intend. Read the agreement and the new will side by side.
My will was made before 2014. Do the same rules apply?
Possibly not entirely. WESA came into force on 31 March 2014, and its transition rules decide whether section 56 or the older law applies, which can turn on when you separated or divorced as well as when the will was signed. Under the older law, divorce rather than separation revoked gifts to a spouse, and a marriage could revoke the whole will. A lawyer can check which rules govern yours.
Can I still leave my separated spouse something if I want to?
Yes. Section 56 applies only when the will doesn't show a contrary intention. A new will made after the separation that names your former spouse as a beneficiary or executor takes effect, because it was plainly made knowing the relationship had ended. Say in it that the gift is intended despite the separation.
If we get back together, do the old gifts come back?
Don't rely on it. Once a gift has been revoked because you stopped being spouses, getting back together doesn't clearly restore it, and the answer may depend on whether the separation counted in law in the first place. If you reconcile, make a new will that names your partner again. That removes the question entirely.
Who manages my children's inheritance if I die and their other parent is still their guardian?
Whoever your will names as trustee. Guardianship and money are separate roles: the other parent usually remains a guardian and makes the day-to-day decisions, but your will can name a different person to hold and invest the children's shares and set the age they receive them. Without a will, a minor's inheritance is generally managed by the Public Guardian and Trustee.
Separated and not sure what your will now says?
A short call is usually enough to tell you what's involved, what it will take, and whether you need us at all.