Our Approach

We recommend that clients hire a lawyer to help them prepare legal documents, including drafting wills, Contracts of Purchase and Sale and family law agreements.

Depending on what area of law you need advice on, we have information forms (for wills and family matters) that we like our clients to fill out ahead of time.

Always bring any relevant documents to your meeting also, such as a death certificate (for a probate matter), the original marriage certificate (for a divorce), your identification, SIN verification (if you are purchasing a property etc.)

Try to organize your thoughts, concerns and relevant documents before your meeting to help save time and costs. Our lawyers will explain the process of what to expect and help you make an informed decision on how to proceed.

Assets that are jointly owned do not pass according to what you say in your Will. Instead, they pass by the right of survivorship to the surviving joint owners. In practice, this means that jointly-owned assets do not need to go through the probate process, and your estate does not need to pay probate fees on the value of jointly-owned assets.

Adding joint owners to assets can be very risky. It will often trigger capital gains taxes, and the assets will be available to the creditors of the new joint owners. Would you really want to risk losing your home if your child does not pay their taxes or bills or gets divorced?

Making a Will is a good first step, but it is only part of a proper estate plan. Jointly owned assets and assets with a named designated beneficiary pass outside your will. Common examples are RRSP/RRIF, life insurance policies and pensions.

When you are making your Will, you should review your financial assets and confirm whether any of your beneficiary designations require updating, or if ownership of accounts and land should be altered to match your intended distribution of your assets when you pass away.

You should also obtain accounting or financial advice when amending beneficiary designations as sometimes making these changes can have unintended tax consequences.

A good estate plan prepares for two matters: planning for death, and incapacity planning. A Will is essentially a set of instructions for your executor of what to do when you pass away. Accordingly, most estate plans will start with creating a Will. Your Will does not operate until you actually pass away.

In the event that you become mentally incompetent, what then? In order to plan for incapacity, you typically want two documents: An Enduring Power of Attorney that covers legal and financial affairs, and a Health Care Representation Agreement that covers healthcare, personal care and living arrangements.

Interior Health is requesting Health Care Representation Agreements more frequently for patients in recent years. Please note that an Enduring Power of Attorney takes effect immediately on the Attorney executing the document so it operates while you are competent and also if you were to become incompetent.