Preparing for the inevitable.
I am currently 47 years old. Unfortunately in that time frame I have lost a lot of family members. Some (most) were accidents, some to age, some to cancer, and one to suicide. Thatās 11 deaths total. Only 1 person out of 11 had a will.
When you are grieving the last thing you want to do is close an estate up.
Itās even harder if nothing has been prepared in advance.
After the initial shock of the death settles (the phase where everyone is usually nice), greed comes through in a most alarming manner. Iāve watched people turn into monsters. Make sure you have a will!!!! or people will fight. ļæ¼
I know most people hate thinking about their death or their spouses death but honestly itās just a fact of life.
Iāve personally been the executor of 2 estates now.
This is my advice:
1. If your young get life insurance. If youāre retired itās not worth it.
2. Make sure you have a will.
3. Make sure you have a personal directive.
4. Make sure you have a power of attorney set up.
5. If your married make your spouse the beneficiary of your TFSA and RRSP(has to be done through the account not the will), they will roll into the spouses account without taxation.
6. If youāre married, and you own a house, make sure both names are on the title, joint tenant, NOT tenant in common. This activates right of survivorship on property and doesnāt have to go through the estate.
7. If youāre married, both people should have their name on all the vehicles, joint, otherwise itās a headache after death.
8. Buy a file folding system. I have a plastic one that has a clasp and handle.
9. Put EVERYTHING in this file folder that would be needed if you died tomorrow.
a) all land titles
B) information on house insurance so it can either be eventually canceled or name changed over.
C) your ļæ¼will (or the location of your will), ļæ¼ power of attorney, and personal directive
D) the information for your car, car insurance, and registration on vehicles.
E) information on life insurance.
F) all current year papers needed for filing your taxes. Because the survivor will have to do it and will need that information.
G) where your household bills are. ALL OF THEM, electricity, gas, Netflix, magazine, subscriptions everything you can think of that is in their name. Because you are going to have to cancel them.
H) their credit card information where to contact to cancel the cards
I) birth certificate, SIN numbers, marriage, license, etc.
J) information on all your investments accounts, bank accounts, etc.
K) anything else you can think of for your situation
If youāre married, Iād have one box per person.
When you die, the funeral home will issue many death certificates. And your lawyer will give you copies of the will.
These will be needed to change over any accounts. Everything else goes through the estate which is taxed and the lawyers take their fees so Iād avoid this as much as possible especially if youāre married. This is why having property in both peopleās names is so important because it doesnāt have to go through probate.
I am widowed now and I have my black file folder and my two remaining children know if something happens to me, all they have to do is grab the folder. Everything they need to take care of my estate will be located in this folder.
At the beginning of every year, I open this file up and go through everything to make sure itās up-to-date.
If you are young and do not own much or canāt afford a will, you can draft one up but it must be handwritten to be classified as a legal document. You cannot type it out!! If youāre not worth much, everything will most likely be sold to pay your bills and cover your funeral expenses. But you can state who your executor will be in your handwritten will.
ļæ¼ Disclaimer Iām not a lawyer or an accountant and this is not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer and talk to an accountant. Make sure everything is set up for you and your situation. These are situations that I personally ran into.
Good luck
Also Iāll add in. IF you have a lot of assets make an appointment with your accountant first. They will tell you how to properly set things up. Then take that information to your lawyer.
