You already know that dying without a will is the safest way to ensure that you have absolutely no options whatsoever as to how your estate is to be divided. (And if you really didn’t know that, then read about what happens when you die without a will before reading on.) However, depending on your [...]
Write your will right and it will do exactly what you want and need it to do when you die. Your will is your roadmap to your loved ones and a properly written will ensures that your death doesn’t create a legal or administrative burden on your family. Write it wrong and your family may [...]
Being appointed executor of an estate is a big job. While the official definition of the role sounds fairly straight-forward — gather up the estate assets, pay the deceased’s debts and divide what remains of the deceased’s estate among beneficiaries — the actual effort involved in these three tasks is far greater than it sounds. [...]
One of the many important decisions you need to make when making a will is choosing an executor for your estate. This is the person who will wind up your affairs. Choosing poorly may not only affect the distribution of your life savings but may also affect your family’s well-being after you are gone. The [...]
If you’ve written a will—congratulations—you are amongst the half of Canadian adults who say they’ve written a will. If you are amongst the other 50% of Canadians, read here to find out why you don’t want to die without one. But here’s a question for everyone who does have a will — is it up-to-date? [...]
Have you ever thought about using an online service to write a will instead of hiring a lawyer to draft one for you? After all, dozens of websites offer to make will-writing fast and easy so maybe you’re asking yourself, how bad can it be? Bad. We knew of a man who decided to save [...]
Do you know what happens if you die without a will? Here’s the story of one family who learned the hard way. In this family, the grandmother (who had a will) died. While the estate was being settled, her adult daughter died, leaving behind three children in their early 20s. When the daughter died, her [...]
Answering the question of whether you need a life insurance trust first requires an explanation of what it is. A life insurance trust is a trust established by the settlor to deal with the life insurance proceeds that are payable upon his or her death. It ensures that the money from a life insurance claim [...]
Power of Attorney (POA) documents are incredibly important. Without them, should you no longer be mentally or physically capable of making decisions on your own, the courts and/or governments determine what happens to you and your property, and who gets to make those decisions. In a previous post, we looked at the reasons for needing [...]
A Power of Attorney (POA) for personal care is a legal document that gives someone you trust the right to make medical decisions on your behalf, if and when you are no longer mentally or physically capable of making decisions on your own. It’s one of the three most important documents everyone should have (the [...]
