Conversations with Clients: Providing Support with Estate Planning and Administration

    • Estate planning documents every Canadian should have

        ◦ Will, Power of Attorney for Financial Matters, Personal Directive for Health Care Decisions (note these documents have different names depending on province)

        ◦ Intervivos Trust document (in some cases)

    • How to choose an appropriate executor and attorney

        ◦ Executors and attorneys should be:

            ▪ Responsible & Trustworthy

            ▪ Business Minded

            ▪ Objective

            ▪ Organized

            ▪ Ideally be of younger age than the testator

            ▪ Live in the same province (or at least country) as the testator

        ◦ What is a professional executor and when should a professional executor be considered?

            ▪ Assets are complex

            ▪ Beneficiaries/Families are complex

            ▪ Testator doesn’t want to burden family member or friend

            ▪ Testator doesn’t have an appropriate alternative

    • Common estate planning myths

        ◦ Estate Planning is expensive

            ▪ What happens if you pass away without a will

            ▪ Lack of documented wishes can create more opportunities for estate litigation

            ▪ Estate planning allows access to tax and probate planning opportunities

        ◦ Joining assets with adult children avoids the need for probate

            ▪ The law typically presumes the joint asset is joint by convenience and the burden of proof against the contrary lies on the person purporting that the joint asset passes outside of the estate to the joint holder

        ◦ Executors are not held liable for their mistakes

            ▪ Executors can be responsible to reimburse the estate for common mistakes such as inadequate property insurance, loss of investment value of stocks, or misfiled/late tax returns

    • How to motivate clients to get their estate plans in order

        ◦ Estate Planning puts the client in control of the outcome. Clients can choose the responsible party to manage their affairs, guardians for minor children, when and how assets are distributed.

        ◦ Including estate planning agenda item during regular investment or tax review meetings

    • Estate Administration 101

        ◦ The average estate takes 18-24 months to administer

            ▪ Main Steps include:

                • Preliminary/Information Gathering

                • Probate

                • Tax Returns

                • Distributions

                • Accounting and Releases

        ◦ There are several services available to assist clients with estate administration

            ▪ Lawyers

            ▪ Accountants

            ▪ Trust Companies

            ▪ Other fiduciaries

            ▪ Software Applications

    • How Guardian Estate Company can assist

        ◦ Act as estate services concierge/intermediary

        ◦ Find optimal professional executor for clients

        ◦ Connect clients with other estate related resources, include tax and legal experts

        ◦ Help clients that are acting as an executor or attorney, by locating an appropriate agent or resource to asset through the administration

Speaker: Jenna Carvalho, MBA, MTI, TEP