An estate plan and personal Will inform your loved ones where your assets are and what your final wishes were. You can preplan and prepay funeral expenses, arrange life and mortgage insurance to support loved ones, and appoint guardians for minors or dependants of any age. Axess Law’s Wills and estates lawyers help you make a plan for life.
Right now, before you put it off, is the best time to:
Review Insurance Policies
Check whether you have coverage for long-term care if you become feeble or disabled, to protect minors or dependants when you’re gone or replace family income while your Wills are being probated. Life events like having or adopting children or starting a business may make your financial plans out of date. Estate planning prompts you to review financial assets you plan to leave next of kin.
Name Beneficiaries for Joint or Investment Accounts
Naming designates for bank accounts and investments let assets pass directly to benefactors without waiting for probate court. It’s important you double-check employee pension plans to ensure beneficiary lists are current. If you are separated, divorced, remarried, or widowed, your information may be out of date.
Approach Potential Estate Administrators
Any mentally capable adult can be your estate administrator or executor, but not everyone may want to. Select a trustworthy, reliable, and financially competent administrator by asking those you know if they would be willing to represent you.
Click on ‘Get Started’ button to submit a request to meet with the Lawyer. Our customer care team will reach out to you within minutes to book your appointment.
On the day of your appointment, our lawyer will verify your identification and walk you through the intake process where they confirm your contact information.
Our lawyer will ask you a series of questions regarding your executor, beneficiaries, and make a note of your wishes before drafting a Will accordingly.
Our lawyer will cross-check each page of the Will with you and if you are happy with the draft, the Will is signed and executed by the lawyer on the same day.
If you decide to draft a personal Will, bring the following to your online video call or in-person appointment with an Axess Law Ontario Wills lawyer:
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When you die, your estate trustees, executors or personal representatives, as they are called:
Last wills and testaments are precious documents. If you’ve been charged with finding a Will, ask loved ones, family or close friends where to look. Many Will writers make multiple Wills in their lifetime and their estate trustee or next-of-kin often know where they are.
Will Check or Storage Services
Many Ontario Wills and estates lawyers use a central Will Check service or store Wills for their clients. They often know where a deceased client kept their Will. Start your search with the law firm where the Will was drafted.
Going to Court to Get Wills
Next-of-kin or estate trustees can be taken to court for withholding a Will. As long as you appear to have a financial interest in the estate, you can ask a civil court judge to order anyone who has a copy (real or not) to give it to you.
Wills in Land Records
Real estate owners may deposit Wills in Ontario land registry offices when land is their only asset. Check with the local land registry where they lived.
Finally, if you know there is a Will, but you just can’t find it, you can apply to an Ontario court for a certificate of appointment as estate trustee without a Will.
Separate your own and the person’s finances to prevent intermingling assets
Pay legitimate bills, debts and legal obligations they can afford
Collect income and benefits, such as pensions and GST refunds
File and pay taxes
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Axess Law shows you how to create single or multiple personal Wills to keep your assets and family safe.
1. List Assets for Your Will
Make a list of financial assets – bank accounts, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, GICs.
Add real estate – your matrimonial home, cottage, condo or waterfront lot.
Include electronics – TVs, computers, mobile devices, appliances, power tools or yard equipment.
Inventory collectibles – antiques, art, rare books or heirloom jewelry.
Decide what clothes or jewelery to bequeath to others.
Catalogue items to donate or dispose of.
Itemize benefits loved ones will receive when you die – life insurance, disability or health insurance, auto accident insurance, survivor’s pensions. Remember to list organizations you belong to in case they offer life insurance or disability benefits.
Record passwords for social media accounts and leave instructions to allow your next-of-kin to access them.
2. Organize Your Debts
Your estate trustee will notify creditors and pay debts after you die. We encourage you to record mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, vehicle loans, credit cards, lines of credit and promissory notes. Asking Equifax for a free credit report can capture anything you overlooked.
3. Make a Contact List
Who will your estate trustee contact when you die? Include your bank branch, investment brokers, insurance representatives, former employers, Canada Pension Plan, condo strata manager and anyone who holds or manages assets for you.
4. Name Benefactors and Charities
Inform your executor of benefactors and charities you would like possessions or estate gifts to go to. Your estate trustee will use this contact information to distribute your estate according to your wishes.
5. Write Multiple Wills for Complex Estates
Complex estates require careful planning. Making multiple Wills separates personal and business assets. Axess Law’s Wills professionals ensure your Ontario Will is legally valid, reducing the chances it will be successfully challenged in court after you’re gone.
