Volume 1, Draft Civil Code - Digital exhibitions & collections - McGill ...

176 SUCCESSION
260 Any person of major age may witness an authentic will,
except the spouse, or any employee of the notary who receives
it.
261 Consorts may not act as witnesses together.
262 An authentic will may not be received by a notary
related or allied to the testator either in the direct or in the
collateral line up to and including the third degree.
The witnesses may be related or allied to the testator, to
the notary or to each other.
263 The notary who receives a will may be appointed
executor or trustee in the will, even if he is remunerated for
this duty.
264 When the testator knows neither French nor English, an
authentic will may be drafted in a foreign language, provided
the notary and the witness know that language.
The notary records in the deed the testator's declaration
that he knows neither French nor English, and the witness's
declaration that he knows the foreign language used by the
testator; he then draws up the will in the language of the
testator, and immediately translates it into either French or
English.
The text in the foreign language makes proof until
improbation; the translation makes proof of its conformity to
the original until proof to the contrary.
265 An authentic will is subject to additional formalities
when the testator is blind, deaf, mute or unable to sign.
The observance of these additional formalities and their
cause are expressly mentioned in the instrument.