Estate Planning
When was your will last updated? Do you have one? Would it surprise you to know that approximately 50% of adult Canadians do not have a will? Sadly, this has huge ramifications in terms of the costs associated with settling your estate – and we don’t just mean financial.
Here are some things to consider if you die without a will or have not updated your will recently:
- The courts will appoint someone to settle your estate since you have not named an executor of your choosing;
- The courts will decide who should be guardians of your children;
- You will pay considerable fees to a court appointed executor thus reducing the value of your estate;
- Those to whom you would like to leave your assets may not get anything based on intestacy rules;
- Common law spouses do not have property rights and therefore would have a difficult time receiving any assets from your estate unless the estate was structured to include them;
- Families may argue about what “mom or dad” would have wanted and create irreparable rifts in family relations;
- Tax planning is impossible after death creating the possibility that a significant amount of tax would be payable that otherwise could have been reduced; and
- Your personal effects may not be distributed according to your wishes
These are just some of the outcomes of not being prepared.
Our estate planning services are broken into two parts: Estate Preparation and Estate Administration
People spend more time shopping for a car then they do thinking about their estate. We provide assistance with regard to the following:
- Establishing your estate planning priorities;
- Discussion of various estate structures (outright distribution vs. testamentary trusts);
- Discussion of Joint Spousal and Alter Ego Trusts and their applicability to your situation;
- Probate Planning;
- Planned Giving;
- Multiple Wills and when they’re applicable;
- Treatment of Real Property held outside your jurisdiction (out of province or out of country)
- Who makes a suitable executor;
- Who makes a suitable guardian for your children;
- Analysis of the tax treatment of each of your assets and how to structure your estate to minimize the tax impact;
- Preparation of instructions for your estate lawyer;
- Discussion of the importance of Powers of Attorney;
- Discussion of whether Living Wills are appropriate for you.
The process of settling an estate can be complicated, even for what appears to be a “simple” estate. This service helps you wade through the often confusing steps that must be taken to ensure that the estate is settled properly.
Our services include:
- Preparation of T1 Terminal return;
- Preparation of Elective Returns as applicable;
- Preparation of the Estate Trust Return;
- Inclusion of Special Elections (as applicable) when filing the final return;
- Review of Assets and Liabilities held at date of death;
- Review of Sources of Income received prior to death; and
- Assistance to executor as needed in the performance of executor duties.
Please contact us by clicking here to discuss how we can help you with your estate planning or click here for our fees.
