Wills and Estates

WILLS & ESTATES

Do you need to Update or Create a Will and Powers of Attorney? Choose our experienced Wills & Estates Lawyer.

There are many ways to organize your assets and your Estate. A trusted Estate Planner can help answer your many questions and having an UpToDate Will or Powers of Attorney is key to dealing with a lot of your individual concerns.

Many of us don’t want our family or close friends to worry or stress about our passing or let our death become a burden on their busy lives.

Protecting your home, your kids, your business- basically everything you have worked so hard to build- requires a certain level of knowledge and understanding from your legal and financial advisors. Estate Planning is an important part of our practice, and we spend time with you to get to know you, to tailor your Will to protect what matters to you and place it in the right hands, leaving you with a little more peace of mind.

An Estate must be handled with care and diligence. In my practice, I have prepared Wills for my clients with a view to ensuring your documents are legible and easy to understand and reflect your wishes. After taking the time to meet with you and speak fully and candidly about your Estate and your property with plenty of opportunity to have personal communication directly with me about your unique situation in life. Your Will is too important to be prepared any other way.

If you are looking for a simple will, here are a few things to think about before we meet:

• Make sure you have the full legal names of the person(s) you wish to name Estate Trustee- this is the person who will manage the Estate on your passing, and an alternative in case you need one.

• Any particular Beneficiary- the person(s) who will inherit from your Estate.

• Jot down all of your assets of value, such as the value of your home, your vehicles, your personal belongings – with the new requirements to report to the Ministry of Finance, having everything written down by you may save your Estate Trustee a lot of time. It will also allow us to give you a current calculation of the Estate Administration Fee (previously known as Probate)- though the values may change at the time of your death.

Maybe you have a more complex Estate, or you need more than one Will for corporate assets. Speak to me about your situation and we will do what we can to help you.

Your Powers of Attorney are just as important as your Will, as they determine who will have the right to speak for you and make decisions on your behalf while you are still alive.

What’s the difference between an Estate Trustee and a Power of Attorney?

Put simply, an Estate Trustee has no power to do anything until after you have died. The person named as your Power of Attorney however, is given their power to act on your behalf, and must do so in your best interest, in the event that you have been named incapable of making certain decisions yourself. For example, if you are in a coma, or if you are suffering from Alzheimer’s or Dementia and can no longer make decisions about yourself or your assets. There are very specific duties set out for a Power of Attorney and an Estate Trustee, which I would be happy to discuss with you when we meet.

Certificate of Estate Trustee & Payment of Probate/Estate Administration Tax

When your loved one has passed, the duties and responsibilities of the Estate Trustee can be complicated and emotionally draining. As an experienced Estates lawyer I prepare the application for the Certificate of Estate Trustee, if needed, because not all estates require the Certificate, or probate, and will also provide guidance with respect to your legal obligations to the Estate and to the Beneficiaries, and to the Government of Ontario, when you are ready to administer the estate. This is an area of law where experience matters. Knowing when to apply for a Certificate or perhaps you are contemplating litigation in an estate matter, hire an estate lawyer to help you figure out what your next steps are.

Call my office if you have questions about your estate or the estate of a loved one.