Whatever stage of life our clients find themselves – recently married, family with children, or elderly – we help them create an estate plan that gives them piece of mind.
Although there are many reasons for having a will, we have highlighted the most important ones below:
Rules of Intestacy
If an individual dies without a Will they are said to die intestate. The law, specifically, the Succession Law Reform Act (Ontario), acts as a Will “gap filler” and creates a Will for you. Your estate will be distributed in accordance with the regime set out in the Succession Law Reform Act. This regime may not be consistent with your testamentary wishes, and may include beneficiaries that you would have otherwise excluded, or vice versa.
Effective Immediately
A Will is effective immediately. The Executor and Trustee derives his or her authority to act from the Will, and on some occasions, there may be no need to obtain a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with a Will (formerly Letters Probate). On the other hand, if you die without a Will, the Executor and Trustee appointed by the court may not be able to distribute your estate immediately, and may be forced to wait a year to distribute your estate (or longer) to ascertain the creditors of your estate.
Ability to Choose Executors/Beneficiaries
When you have a Will you get to choose your Executor(s) and Trustee(s) (the person(s) that manages your estate upon death) instead of the law or the court appointing one for you. Most importantly, when you have a Will, you get to decide how your estate is distributed – who gets what and how much. In addition, you may wish to leave particular items to specific individuals or choose to leave legacies (in the form of cash) to specific individuals or charitable organizations.
Tax and Probate Fee Planning
As stated above, the Will is often the most important part of an estate plan. A Will can be drafted in such a manner to reduce the estate administration taxes (formerly probate taxes) that your beneficiaries are required to pay when administering your estate. For example, shares in a private company or property in another jurisdiction can be disposed of through a separate Will. A Will can also be drafted so as to reduce the amount of capital gains taxes that are payable upon your death.
Family Law Act Protection for Beneficiaries
Many individuals wish that there estate stay within their so-called “blood-line”, and wish to exclude a beneficiary’s spouse. The Family Law Act (Ontario) allows you to make an election in your Will to protect property inherited by a married beneficiary from the beneficiary’s spouse on separation/divorce or death.