Category: Community posts

October 4 to 10 is Make a Will Week! The government of British Columbia designated the week to encourage the public to write or update their will.

Will making is getting even more manageable. Remote witnessing of will signing is now a permanent part of BC law. Recognition of electronic wills is coming soon once tweaks to the probate rules are made to allow for the filing of electronic wills.

Why do I need a will? Why should I make one?

A will is a legal document that leaves instructions about what you want to be done with everything you own after your death. If you die without a will, your property will be divided according to the law in BC. It could make things more difficult for your loved ones.

I want to make a will. What should I do?

You could start by reading any of the free resources available for British Columbians. Go to the Courthouse Libraries BC website for a complete list of resources and services prepared for various audiences: http://bit.ly/clbcwills. At the Wills & Personal Planning Resources page, you could also find information about personal planning documents, such as Representation Agreements and Enduring Power of Attorney.

Printable handouts

For a quick overview, this one-pager for everyone (PDF) comes handy. The handout is also available for public librarians & community helpers (PDF), as well as for lawyers & legal professionals (PDF). Feel free to print and distribute these handouts, but please highlight the short URL that directs back to the Wills & Personal Planning Resources page: http://bit.ly/CLBCwills.

Any public events to help me get started?

Check out the listings in our October Events post. Different non-profit organizations hold free or low-cost webinars to help you with various topics around wills. They are listed below in alphabetical order, along with description taken from their website:

• Nidus – is currently the only community-based resource in Canada devoted to personal planning. Its existence sets British Columbia apart as a leader in addressing the critical needs of an ageing population.
• People’s Law School – provides free education and information to help people effectively deal with the legal problems of daily life.
• Plan Institute – works to improve the lives of people with disabilities by collaborating on community-based projects, offering a suite of learning initiatives, and advocating for policy reform.

Stay informed:

The Clicklaw Wikibooks website gets a new look. The refreshed homepage design, which was launched last week, makes it more user friendly. We’re excited to tell you how we did it and what we changed!

This site hosts plain-language legal publications such as JP Boyd on Family Law and Dial-A-Law. These publications are collaboratively developed and are published and kept up-to-date on a wiki, where they can also be printed and downloaded.

Heuristic evaluation

Last year we had a third-party consultant conducting a heuristic evaluation of the Clicklaw Wikibooks homepage. In other words, a usability expert reviewed the homepage and compared it against accepted usability principles. The result was a set of recommendations comprising editorial updates and “cosmetic” changes to make the site easier to use.

What are the changes?

Here are the highlights of what we did to the homepage design:

• Brought the site’s styles closer to the Clicklaw website, including the colour scheme
• Increased the body copy font size to allow better readability on the web (for desktop view)
• Added in more white space between elements to direct people to and then through different content
• Rearranged features on the homepage, such as moving the “What is a Clicklaw Wikibook” block to the top page for more visibility

Have feedback?

We are always looking for ways to improve our websites. Let us know what you think about the redesigned Clicklaw Wikibooks. Email us at editor@clicklaw.bc.ca.

About Clicklaw Wikibooks

Clicklaw Wikibooks covers various BC legal topics using plain language, so people don’t need legal training to understand them. They are available in print and digitally, and range in size from small booklets to 1,000+ page manuals. They are collaboratively developed in the sense that many different legal professionals and law-related non-profit organizations contribute content and help keep it accurate, while Courthouse Libraries BC manages the platform and helps recruit volunteer authors and reviewers.

Stay informed: