RTA · Wills and Succession Act
1 Interpretation and Application Interpretation
(a) "adult interdependent partner" means an adult
interdependent partner within the meaning of the Adult
Interdependent Relationships Act;
(b) "beneficiary", except where expressly provided otherwise,
means a person who receives or is entitled to receive a
beneficial disposition of property under a will or on an
intestacy;
(c) "beneficiary designation" means a designation made under
section 71(2);
(d) "Court" means the Court o f King's Bench of Alberta;
(e) "descendants" means all lineal descendants of an individua l
through all generations;
(f) "guardian", in resp ect of a child, means
(i) a person who is or is appointed as a guardian of the child
under Part 2 of the Family Law Act, and
(ii) a person who is a guardian of the child under an order or
agreement made under the Child, Youth and Family
Enhancement Act;
(g) "kin", in respect of an ind ividual, means a relative of the
individual by blood or adoption and does not include a
relative by marriage;
(h) "personal representative" means an executor or an
administrator or judicial trustee of the estate of a deceased
individual and includes a personal representative named in
the will whether or not a grant is issued;
(i) "property" includes
(i) real and personal property , as well as rights or interests
in them,
(ii) anything regarded in law or equity as property or as an
interest in property,
(iii) any right or interest that can be transferred for value
from one person to another,
(iv) any right, including a contingent or future right, to be
paid money or receive any other kind of property, and
(v) any cause of action, to th e extent that it relates to
property or could result in a judgment requiring a person
to pay money;
(j) "testator" means an i ndividual who makes a will;
(k) "will" includes
(i) a codicil,
(ii) a writing that
(A) alters or revokes another will,
(B) appoints a personal representative, or
(C) on the death of the testa tor, confers or exercises a
power of appointment,
a n d
(iii) any other writing that is a testamentary disposition.
(2) In this Act, a reference to an intestate or to an individual who
died intestate is a reference to an individual who dies leaving an
intestate estate as defined in section 58(1)(a).
(3) If an individual is a parent of a child within the meaning of Part
1 of the Family Law Act, that individual is a parent of the child for
all purposes under this Act, including for the purposes of
determining, at any generation, whether the child or parent is an
ascendant or descendant of another individual.
2010 cW-12.2 s1;2014 cE-12.5 s55;2014 c13 s13;AR 217/2022
Each Contracting Party undertakes that not later than 6 months
after the date of entry into force of this Convention in respect of
that Party it shall introduce into its law the rules regarding an
international will set out in the Annex to this Convention.
2 Each Contracting Party may introduce the provisions of the
Annex into its law either by reproducing the actual text, or by
translating it into its official language or languages.
3 Each Contracting Party may introduce into its law such further
provisions as are necessary to give the provisions of the Annex full
effect in its territory.
4 Each Contracting Party shall submit to the Depositary
Government the text of the rules introduced into its national law in
order to implement the provisions of this Convention.
Each Contracting Party shall implement the provisions of the
Annex in its law, within the period provided for in the preceding
article, by designating the persons who, in its territory, shall be
authorized to act in connection with international wills. It may also
designate as a person authorized to act with regard to its nationals
its diplomatic or consular agents abroad insofar as the local law
does not prohibit it.
2 The Party shall notify such designation, as well as any
modifications thereof, to the Depositary Government.
Article III
The capacity of the authorized person to act in connection with
an international will, if conferred in accordance with the law of a
Schedule Chapter W-12.2
Contracting Party, shall be recognized in the territory of the other
Contracting Parties.
Article IV
The effectiveness of the certificate provided for in Article 10 of
the Annex shall be recognized in the territories of all Contracting
Parties.
The conditions requisite to acting as a witness of an
international will shall be governed by the law under which the
authorized person was designated. The same rule shall apply as
regards an interpreter who is called upon to act.
2 Nonetheless no one shall be disqualified to act as a witness of
an international will solely because he is an alien.
The signature of the testator, of the authorized person, and of
the witnesses to an international will, whether on the will or on the
certificate, shall be exempt from any legalization or like formality.
2 Nonetheless, the competent authorities of any Contracting Party
may, if necessary, satisfy themselves as to the authenticity of the
signature of the authorized person.
Article VII
The safekeeping of an international will shall be governed by the
law under which the authorized person was designated.
Article VIII
No reservation shall be admitted to this Convention or to its
Annex.
The present Convention shall be open for signature at
Washington from October 26, 1973, until December 31, 1974.
2 The Convention shall be subject to ratification.
3 Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
Government of the United States of America, which shall be the
Depositary Government.
The Convention shall be open indefinitely for accession.
The present Convention shall enter into force 6 months after the
date of deposit of the 5th instrument of ratification or accession
with the Depositary Government.
2 In the case of each State which ratifies this Convention or
accedes to it after the 5th instrument of ratification or accession has
been deposited, this Convention shall enter into force 6 months
after the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession.
Any Contracting Party may denounce this Convention by
written notification to the Depositary Government.
2 Such denunciation shall take effect 12 months from the date on
which the Depositary Government has received the notification, but
such denunciation shall not affect the validity of any will made
during the period that the Convention was in effect for the
denouncing State.
Any State may, when it deposits its instrument of ratification or
accession or at any time thereafter, declare, by a notice addressed
to the Depositary Government, that this Convention shall apply to
all or part of the territories for the international relations of which it
is responsible.
2 Such declaration shall have effect 6 months after the date on
which the Depositary Government shall have received notice
thereof or, if at the end of such period the Convention has not yet
come into force, from the date of its entry into force.
3 Each Contracting Party which has made a declaration in
accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article may, in accordance
with Article XII, denounce this Convention in relation to all or part
of the territories concerned.
If a State has 2 or more territorial units in which different
systems of law apply in relation to matters respecting the form of
wills, it may at the time of signature, ratification, or accession,
declare that this Convention shall extend to all its territorial units or
only to one or more of them, and may modify its declaration by
submitting another declaration at any time.
The original of the present Convention, in the English, French,
Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally
authentic, shall be deposited with the Government of the United
States of America, which shall transmit certified copies thereof to
each of the signatory and acceding States and to the International
Institute for the Unification of Private Law.
2 The Depositary Government shall give notice to the signatory
and acceding States, and to the International Institute for the
Unification of Private Law, of:
(a) any signature;
(b) the deposit of any instrum ent of ratification or accession;
(c) any date on which this Co nvention enters into force in
accordance with Article XI;
(d) any communicati on received in accordance with Article I,
paragraph 4;
(e) any notice received in accor dance with Article II, paragraph
2;
(f) any declaration received in a ccordance with Article XIII,
paragraph 2, and the date on which such declaration takes
effect;
(g) any denunciation received in accordance with Article XII,
paragraph 1, or Article XIII, paragraph 3, and the date on
which the denunciation takes effect;
(h) any declaration received in accordance with Article XIV,
paragraph 2, and the date on which the declaration takes
effect.
Schedule Chapter W-12.2
A will shall be valid as regards form, irrespective particularly of
the place where it is made, of the location of the assets and of the
nationality, domicile or residence of the testator, if it is made in the
form of an international will complying with the provisions set out
in Articles 2 to 5 hereinafter.
2 The invalidity of the will as an international will shall not affect
its formal validity as a will of another kind.
Article 2
This law shall not apply to the form of testamentary dispositions
made by 2 or more persons in one instrument.
The will shall be made in writing.
2 It need not be written by the testator himself.
3 It may be written in any language, by hand or by any other
means.
The testator shall declare in the presence of 2 witnesses and of a
person authorized to act in connection with international wills that
the document is his will and that he knows the contents thereof.
2 The testator need not inform the witnesses, or the authorized
person, of the contents of the will.
In the presence of the witnesses and of the authorized person,
the testator shall sign the will or, if he has previously signed it,
shall acknowledge his signature.
2 When the testator is unable to sign, he shall indicate the reason
therefore to the authorized person who shall make note of this on
the will. Moreover, the testator may be authorized by the law under
which the authorized person was designated to direct another
person to sign on his behalf.
3 The witnesses and the authorized person shall there and then
attest the will by signing in the presence of the testator.
The signatures shall be placed at the end of the will.
2 If the will consists of several sheets, each sheet shall be signed
by the testator or, if he is unable to sign, by the person signing on
his behalf or, if there is no such person, by the authorized person.
In addition, each sheet shall be numbered.
The date of the will shall be the date of its signature by the
authorized person.
2 This date shall be noted at the end of the will by the authorized
person.
Article 8
In the absence of any mandatory rule pertaining to the
safekeeping of the will, the authorized person shall ask the testator
whether he wishes to make a declaration concerning the
safekeeping of his will. If so and at the express request of the
testator the place where he intends to have his will kept shall be
mentioned in the certificate provided for in Article 9.
Article 9
The authorized person shall attach to the will a certificate in the
form prescribed in Article 10 establishing that the obligations of
this law have been complied with.
Article 10
The certificate drawn up by the authorized person shall be in the
following form or in a substantially similar form:
Certificate
(Convention of October 26, 1973)
1. I, (name, address and capacity)
a person authorized to act in connection with international wills
2. certify that on (date)
at (place),
3. (name, address, date and place of birth of testator)
in my presence and that of the witnesses
4. (a) (name, address, dat e and place of birth)
Schedule Chapter W-12.2
(b) (name, address, date and place of birth)
has declared that the attached document is his will and that he
knows the contents thereof.
5. I furthermore certify that:
6. (a) in my presence and in that of the witnesses
(1) the testator has signed t he will or has acknowledged his
signature previously affixed;
*(2) following a declaration of the testator stating that he
was unable to sign his will for the following reason
□ I have mentioned this declaration on the will
* □ the signature has been affixed by
(name, address)
7. (b) the witnesses and I have signed the will;
8. *(c) each page of the will has been signed by
and numbered;
9. (d) I have satisfied myself as to the identity of the testator
and of the witnesses as designated above;
10. (e) the witnesses met the conditions requisite to act as such
according to the law under which I am acting;
11. *(f) the testator has requested me to include the following
statement concerning the safekeeping of his will:
12. PLACE
13. DATE
14. SIGNATURE and, if necessary, SEAL
*To be completed if appropriate.
Schedule Chapter W-12.2
Article 11
The authorized person shall keep a copy of the certificate and
deliver another to the testator.
Article 12
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the certificate of the
authorized person shall be conclusive of the formal validity of the
instrument as a will under this Law.
Article 13
The absence or irregularity of a certificate shall not affect the
formal validity of a will under this Law.
Article 14
The international will shall be subject to the ordinary rules of
revocation of wills.
Article 15
In interpreting and applying the provisions of this Law, regard shall
be had to its international origin and to the need for uniformity in
its interpretation.
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