In Ontario, the wills and estates practice has changed significantly over the last decade in response to technological developments, evolving court procedures, and the pandemic. For example, although wills were once executed exclusively in person, it is now possible to witness a will’s execution remotely through the use of audio-visual communication technology.[1] The filing of applications for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee is another great example – whereas these applications had to be filed physically at the courthouse pre-pandemic, they can now be submitted electronically by email.[2]
Even long-established aspects of probate practice, like the placement of exhibit stamps on wills, have become more flexible recently. Whereas an exhibit stamp previously had to be placed on the back page of a will if that document was submitted as part of an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee, it is now acceptable to place the stamp elsewhere on a will.[3] In light of this shift, practitioners can now effectively choose where they would like to place exhibit stamps on the wills that they prepare for clients. This begs the question – where does it make sense to place an exhibit stamp on a will?
There are a number of reasons why the front page of a will is an excellent location for an exhibit stamp, space permitting. Placing the stamp on the front page should make it easier to identify the will when reviewing an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee, and also make it easier to scan the application for digital filing, a very salient consideration given the increasingly digital nature of modern estates practice. Lastly, risks that could materialize when an exhibit stamp is placed on the back page of a will would be avoided.
A Primer on Wills, Affidavits of Execution, and Exhibits Stamps
If a will is used to ground an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee, the application must include evidence proving that the will was duly executed – otherwise, the applicant must prove the will in solemn form.[4] Typically evidence proving the execution of a will takes the form of an affidavit of execution.[5]
When a will is executed in compliance with section 4 of the Succession Law Reform Act,[6] an affidavit of execution is sworn by one of the subscribing witnesses to verify that the will was executed properly.[7] To prepare an affidavit of execution, the original will must be attached as an exhibit. Practically speaking, this means that the will must be stamped as an exhibit.[8]
As previously noted, historically counsel could not choose where to place an exhibit stamp on an original will in Ontario – the Superior Court of Justice required the exhibit stamp to be placed on the back of the will’s last page,[9] usually the signing page, even though there was no explicit legislative requirement on point.
Rigidity around the placement of exhibit stamps on wills first began to ease following the pandemic. The Estates Procedures Manual that was released on August 19, 2022 clarified that an exhibit stamp did not necessarily have to be placed on the back of the signature page of a will, and also confirmed that there was no specific statutory provision or rule prescribing the placement of exhibit stamps.[10]
Choosing Where to Place an Exhibit Stamp on a Will
The placement of exhibit stamps on wills admitted to probate continues to be flexible. The Estates Court Staff Procedures Manual that was released on March 2, 2026, expressly confirms that an exhibit stamp may be placed on the back of a page of a will, or that it may be placed on a separate sheet of paper in the affidavit, attached immediately before the will.[11] However, these are not the only options for exhibit stamp placement – the Manual also states that a Registrar’s Notice will not be required if an “exhibit stamp is placed elsewhere on the Will” (emphasis added).[12] Similarly, the Group Leader of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Bankruptcy, Estates and Commercial Office has observed that “it does not matter where the [e]xhibit stamp [is] placed” on a will.[13]
Now that counsel may choose where to place an exhibit stamp on a will, platforms like eState Planner[14] are formatting their wills to place the exhibit stamp on the front page.[15] For the reasons discussed below, wills and estates practitioners should consider following suit.
1. Easier Identification of Wills
Perhaps the most obvious reason to place an exhibit stamp on the front page of a will is to make the will easier to identify in an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee.[16] Practically speaking, the will is the most important document in the application, recognizing that the purpose of applying for probate is to determine whether the will submitted is in fact the testator’s last will.[17] However, because the will is an exhibit to the affidavit of execution, one of the many documents that comprise an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee, it can be tedious or inconvenient to find the will in the application materials. Placing the exhibit stamp on the front page of a will ought to make the will more readily identifiable, so that it should be easier for court staff, counsel, and judges to recognize the document immediately.[18]
While the Estates Court Staff Procedures Manual also permits the exhibit stamp to be placed on a separate sheet of paper, attached before the will,[19] this practice should not be encouraged. Applications for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee already tend to involve “significant amounts of loose paper that court staff, and sometimes judges have to wade through”[20] – adding another sheet of paper for the sole purpose of marking a will as an exhibit arguably is counterintuitive, contributing to the court’s administrative burden, and also is not an environmentally friendly practice.
2. Easier Digital Scanning and Filing
Placing the exhibit stamp on the front page of a will also aligns with the increasingly digital nature of probate practice. When applications for certificates of appointment of estate trustee are filed electronically, the entire application, including supporting documents, must be scanned. While it is possible to scan the back of a page that bears the exhibit stamp, having to do so usually makes the scanning process more complicated and inefficient. If the will is printed single-sided – as many are – the back of the page where the exhibit stamp is located may be the only page that contains content on both sides, giving rise to a risk that the stamped page may be inadvertently overlooked during scanning.
Admittedly, this is a modest risk; however, it can be easily avoided by simply placing the exhibit stamp on the first page of the will. Then there will be no need to take special precautions to ensure that the stamp is included when the document is scanned.
3. Risks Associated With Placing the Exhibit Stamp on the Signature Page
Continuing to place the exhibit stamp on the back of the last page of a will, or on the signature page itself, may also be an unnecessarily risky practice. There is always a chance that part of the will may be damaged or obliterated, including the signature of either the testator or one of the attesting witnesses. In fact, in 2025, the Group Leader of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Bankruptcy, Estates and Commercial Office acknowledged this risk, noting that if an exhibit stamp is placed on the signing page of a will or codicil and covers any portion of the text or signatures on the will to the point that the text or signature is obscured, “it may be an issue that needs to be rectified.”[21]
On the bright side, if part of the text or signature on a will is obliterated, the validity of that content should not be impacted, so long as the testator did not have the requisite animus revocandi to revoke the obliterated material.[22] Nevertheless, if part of the text or a signature on a will is inadvertently obscured or obliterated by an exhibit stamp, it would be necessary to seek the court’s direction, making probate more complex and expensive than necessary. Such risk can simply be avoided by placing an exhibit stamp on another page of the will.
Damage or marks to the will’s signature page due to an exhibit stamp could also become an issue during estate litigation – a will challenger could hypothetically argue that the integrity of the testator’s final will was compromised. Even if such a claim is tenuous, it again would make the probate process needlessly more expensive and complex.
Conclusion
For the first time in decades, counsel may choose where to place an exhibit stamp on wills executed by their clients. While this may seem like a minor procedural detail, it merits consideration. In light of the nature of a modern wills and estates practice – particularly how much paper there tends to be in applications for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee and the rise of digital scanning and filing – formatting wills so that an exhibit stamp can be placed on the will’s front page makes more sense than continuing to stamp the last page or the signature page, despite long-standing drafting conventions. It bears noting that the traditional approach of stamping the back page of wills developed when probate applications were filed physically, on paper, and primarily handled in hard copy and may no longer be the best practice in 2026. Moreover, formatting a will so that the exhibit stamp is placed on the front page ought to prevent the final page of the will from being inadvertently damaged, or the text or a signature on the signature page from being accidentally obliterated.
In a profession where careful drafting is fundamental, even small formatting choices can have practical consequences. Leaving room for an exhibit stamp on the front page of a will is one such choice – well suited to the realities of modern estates practice, and simple to implement.
[1] See the Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26, s 4(3).
[2] See Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Consolidated Civil Provincial Practice Direction (1 February 2024) at Part IV: Applications for Estates Certificates (probate), online: <https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/filing-procedures/provincial/consolidated-civil-provincial-practice-direction/#Part_IV_Applications_for_Estates_Certificates_probate>. See also Ian M. Hull & Suzana Popovic-Montag, Macdonell, Sheard and Hull on Probate Practice, 6th ed (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2023) at § 9:7.
[3] See Sandra Arsenault and Jessica Butler, “Now Updating … Do Not Give Up Before All Revisions Are Complete” (14 October 2022), online (blog): All About Estates <https://www.allaboutestates.ca/now-updatingdo-not-give-up-before-all-revisions-are-complete/> [Arsenault and Butler]; Ian Hull and Zahra Panju, “The Practice of Placing Exhibit Stamps on the Front of a Will: A Balanced Perspective” (24 September 2025), online (blog): Hull & Hull LLP <https://hullandhull.com/2025/09/the-practice-of-placing-exhibit-stamps-on-the-front-of-a-will-a-balanced-perspective/> [Hull and Panju].
[4] See Estate of Madge Linton, 2019 ONSC 7054.
[5] Rules of Civil Procedure, Ont Reg 194, r 74.04(1)(d) Form 74D.
[6] Supra note 1, s 4.
[7] See Anne Armstrong, Estate Administration: A Solicitor’ Manual (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 1984) (loose-leaf) [Armstrong] at § 2:37.
[8] Technically, it may not be necessary under the Rules of Civil Procedure, supra note 5, to place an exhibit stamp on an affidavit exhibit though. See Saggy v Grillone, 2020 ONSC 4140 at para 36.
[9] Arsenault and Butler, supra note 3. See also Armstrong, supra note 7 at § 2:41.
[10] Arsenault and Butler, ibid. See also Hull and Panju, supra note 3.
[11] Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, Estates Court Staff Procedures Manual (Court Services Division, March 2026) at ss 5.1.1, 5.2.1.
[12] Ibid at 206, Table 12. Circumstances that do not require a Registrar’s Notice.
[13] See Hull and Panju, supra note 3.
[14] Online: <https://www.e-stateplanner.com/>.
[15] See Hull and Panju, supra note 3.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Panda Estate (Re), 2018 ONSC 6734 at para 15.
[18] If the application is viewed electronically in a document management system or PDF viewer that displays thumbnail previews, placing the exhibit stamp on the front page of the will should also make it easier to visually identify the will.
[19] Supra note 11 at ss 5.1.1, 5.2.1.
[20] O’Flynn Estate (Re), 2009 CanLII 57149 (ON SC) at para 6.
[21] See Hull and Panju, supra note 3.[22] See Ian M. Hull and Suzana Popovic-Montag, Feeney’s Canadian Law of Wills, 4th ed (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2000) (loose-leaf) at § 5.60.