5. Find legal help  

It's a good idea to get legal help from an estates lawyer if you want to make a will.

Finding a lawyer

The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) has an online directory of all lawyers who can practice law in Ontario. You can search the directory for an estates lawyer. You can also search by name, city, postal code, or language spoken.

You can also get this information by calling the LSO at 416-947-3300 or 1-800-668-7380.

Some law firms like Axess Law may offer lower fees.

JusticeNet is a non-profit organization that can connect you with a lawyer who charges reduced fees.

Free legal help

If your income is low, you can call your local community legal clinic to see if they help with wills.

These places offer specific communities free help with making a will:

• Advocacy North for Elders and Seniors may help elders or older adults with low incomes living in Northern Ontario.
• Pro Bono Students Canada’s Wills Clinic helps people with low incomes in York Region.

• Queen’s University Elder Law Clinic helps older adults with low incomes who live in Kingston and in surrounding communities.

Free advice or information

Anyone can get legal advice or information from these services:

• The Ontario Legal Information Centre offers a free 30-minute meeting where a lawyer can give you legal information about wills.
• The LSO's online Referral Service gives you the name of a lawyer or paralegal who will give up to 30 minutes of free legal advice in any area of law.

These places give free legal advice to people they serve:

• 519 Legal Clinic helps 2SLGBTQ+ people.
• Muslim Legal Support Centre helps Muslims with low to modest incomes.
• ABLE2's Reach Legal Referral Services help people who live in the Ottawa or Champlain region and have a disability. They can refer you to a lawyer or paralegal for up to 3 hours of free legal advice. But they cannot help with urgent legal issues. If ABLE2 cannot help, they may refer you to community resources.