By Suzana Popovic-Montag ( November 21, 2025, 2:35 PM EST) -- In Canada, there is somewhat of a divide when it comes to the armchair rule. When interpreting a will in some provinces, including Ontario and Manitoba, it is now the norm for courts to apply the armchair rule at the outset, even if a will is not patently ambiguous, and consider surrounding circumstances that existed when the will was made. Interpreting a will this way is often referred to as the modern approach to the armchair rule. Other provinces in comparison, like Saskatchewan, still take a traditional approach and will not resort to extrinsic evidence to interpret a will that is “perfectly clear and straightforward … which has no patent ambiguity on its face,” as recently noted in Fedyk v. Karmarznuk, 2025 SKKB 50....