Estate Planning

Estate planning for high net worth individuals should be mindful regarding tax implications and liabilities as it involves the transfer of someone's assets (e.g. property, money) when they die, as well as a variety of other personal matters.
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Estate Planning

Estate Planning is everything about protecting your assets and the ones you like. Our Advisors will assist every step to assist you develop a strong estate plan. We assist you to protect your family however ensure that your legacy lives on with those you love.

Estate Plan

When you begin your strategy, there’s a lot to think about. You wish to live your life to the fullest and make sure that your heirs will get the most out of the assets you’re reserving for them. There are 3 standard files that form the structure of an estate strategy: a Will, an Enduring Power of Attorney, and a Personal Directive. In addition, certain individuals and families can gain from more specialized services such as the development of a family trust. Estate planning is an important exercise you carry out to preserve your wealth for your family and arrange for its orderly devolution to your beneficiaries. It can include Wills, Powers of Attorney, Inter Vivos Trusts, Testamentary Trusts, Living Wills, life insurance, critical health problem insurance, long term care insurance, registration of assets in joint ownership, tax planning, and business succession preparation.

Insurance Carriers

  • Manulife Financial
  • Canada Life
  • Sun Life
  • RBC Insurance
  • BMO Insurance
  • Canada Protection Plan (CPP)
  • Industrial Alliance
  • Ivari
  • Equitable Life
  • Empire Life

Last Will and Testament

Preparation your estate matters is very first and foremost about having a will. What is very important to you about planning your estate? Our HNWI clients are mainly concerned about maintaining the family wealth, providing for a spouse and children, transferring the reins of the family business, and leaving a legacy to a charitable cause. If you pass away without a will, your assets are distributed according to provincial legislation. It might also require extra time and legal costs to settle your estate problems. Make a breakdown of your liabilities and assets. Consider your tax positions and desires for the personality of each property. Pay unique attention to a family business and homes. If something takes place to you, Review your family’s requirements and ability to maintain their way of life. Check the beneficiary classifications for accounts such as your RRSP, RRIF, RESP, DPSP (deferred profit-sharing strategy), pension, and life insurance policies.

Estate Planning Lawyer

What if you were to become incapacitated since of illness or injury and not able to make your own decisions? A power of attorney (POA) is a must-have in your estate strategy. POAs vary from province to province, however, in basic, they give a family member or trusted pal the authority to make important financial decisions need to you end up being unable to do so. Your family may have to go to court just to pay your bills if you do not have one. Once again, your spouse is the most likely person to fill this role, though you ought to select an alternate.

Living Will

While a will and POAs can determine your wishes, they will not in fact look after your family must you become incapacitated or pass away. For that, you’ll require insurance. Life insurance can play various functions depending on your life stage. For a young family with a huge mortgage, security and security might be their prime objective. For someone later in life, nevertheless, life insurance might be used as an estate planning tool– an opportunity to leave a legacy or pay taxes so your heirs don’t need to.

Health Directives

A health directive, likewise referred to as a living will or a power of attorney for individual care. If you’re unable to voice those decisions, it gives you a state of how you ought to be treated. Every province permits you to give power of attorney for health care choices. Anybody over the age of 16 can have a health directive, and the document does not need to be prepared by a lawyer to be valid (however it does have to be in composing, and it needs to be checked in front of 2 witnesses). You’ll require to designate a person responsible for making medical choices in your place and consist of any specific directions relating to treatment, such as whether or not you wish to go on life assistance and for how long.

Term Insurance for Estate Planning

For young families, where money is tight, the most cost-efficient alternative is term life insurance. It’s finest to buy these policies as early as possible, say in your 20s, as health issues later on in life may make you uninsurable. You’ll require to buy adequate coverage to pay off your present debts and replace your future making potential. The rule of thumb is to buy a policy that covers 80% of your yearly income for the next 10 to 20 years. If you make $50,000 a year and have a $200,000 mortgage, the policy should pay between $600,000 to $1,000,000.

Permanent Life Insurance for Estate Planning

Permanent life insurance (consisting of whole life and universal life) has no expiry date. They are substantially more costly since these policies have an investment component, which isn’t subject to tax, in addition to a cash surrender value, need to you cancel them.

Inheritance

As is frequently the case, you might wish to give your children/beneficiaries some or all of their inheritance in advance of your death. You need to plainly stipulate whether the cash was a gift or a loan. You also need to specify whether the gift was an advance on their inheritance, or in addition to the child’s/ beneficiary’s portion of the estate. When you die, the benefit of providing cash gifts while you’re still alive is that it may minimize the overall tax burden on your estate. When you offer money to adult kids, there are no taxes payable, either by you or your kid. Gifting money is a good method to help out your kids while you’re still alive and can view them enjoy it.

Investments or Real Estate

If you give your child an investment portfolio or real estate, the Canada Revenue Agency will deem this a sale at fair market value, and you will be accountable for any capital gains taxes. However, those assets will not need to travel through probate when you pass away.

Family Law

An important aspect to consider is whether you want your child’s partner to take advantage of your gift or inheritance. Under family law (which varies with your province), any money received from the family of one partner is considered to belong to both partners if it is combined with the couple’s shared assets. For instance, if Robert inherited $100,000 from his father and used it to pay down the home mortgage or put it in his RRSP, then his better half Maria might declare half, if the couple were to break up one day. But if Robert had actually transferred the inheritance in a different account, he may not have to share this money after a divorce. Moms and dads need to define in their will that a gift or inheritance is not for the mutual benefit of both spouses. All wills should have such a clause. The truth is lots of marriages fail. When he or she needs it most, by taking these preventative measures you might eventually assist your kid.

Probate

Probate is the procedure of lawfully verifying a will, so all estates must go through a form of probate. Some provinces charge a modest charge for probate, while others base the cost on the size of your estate: Ontario has the highest charges at 1.5%. If you have a partner, one of the most convenient methods is to hold home jointly. A home kept in “joint tenancy” by 2 spouses will not go through probate: when one partner passes away, their share of the property passes automatically to the survivor. The same holds true of a jointly held financial investment account. If assets are not held jointly with your partner, the basic guideline is that the Canada Revenue Agency will deem it to be offered at fair market value upon your death. Your estate will then be accountable for the capital acquires taxes on any gratitude. For instance, if you have a non-registered account with stocks and shared funds that have grown in value from $400,000 to $700,000, your executor would be accountable for reporting $300,000 in capital gains on your final tax return. Your objective is to reduce probate charges.

Evaluation and Update your Will Estate Plan

Think about updating your will whenever you have a significant life event such as the birth of a kid or grandchild when your children reach the age of bulk, or if you or your called executor transfer to a different province. If your net worth grows substantially, it’s also worth reviewing your estate strategy. A larger financial investment portfolio, a bigger house, or a growing art collection should be attended to in your estate plan. When somebody passes away, re-examine your strategy. Generally, this is an automated reaction if your spouse dies, but it needs to likewise be done if, say, your executor passes away before you, or your power of attorney is detected with a devastating illness. Do not get captured up in life and forget to update from time to time. Evaluation it and keep your documents and instructions approximately date.

Family Business Succession Plan

Analyze whether to leave your estate to the beneficiaries either outright or through trusts. Consider whether a part of your wealth ought to be handled while you are living. A family business succession strategy must tie into your estate strategy.

Power of Attorney, Executors, and Trustees

Take great care in designating capable agents, powers of attorney, executors, and trustees for your estate. They have comparable powers as you perform in handling your collected wealth. Selecting the best guardians for minor children is vital. Your trustees and guardians might have tasks lasting up to 18 years, or longer, depending upon the children’s ages and the life of the trust you develop. Select 2 qualified people for every single position. Preferably, one needs to be younger than you and live in the exact same province. Grant them adequate powers to perform their duties as you would. Be specific each appointee desires the frequently thankless job. Our Advisors counsel our HNWI clients to supply their appointees with a detailed letter of guideline to make their tasks simpler. They will likely come across some family dynamics in need of attention.

Taxes At Death

Taxes payable upon death are typically a much larger concern than probate charges. The easiest way to reduce or delay taxes at death is to call your partner as the beneficiary on your registered accounts, such as RRIFs, tfsas, and rrsps. If left to anyone other than your spouse, the full value of your RRSP or RRIF is taxable as earnings upon your death. Another method to minimize taxes is to donate your stock portfolio, in-kind, to charitable organizations. You will not have to declare any capital gains that might have built up over the years when you donate openly traded securities. Your estate will likewise get a charitable donation credit that can be used to even more decrease the taxes owed. As always, expert help is a must. Meet with an estate preparation lawyer and an accounting professional to establish an efficient plan.

Trusts

Whether your heirs are spendthrift grownups or small kids, you can avoid them from wasting your hard-earned savings by setting up a trust.

A trust is a legal entity that holds assets on behalf of the beneficiary and designates a trustee to disperse them according to your directions. You might advise the trustee to make regular monthly payments from the trust to the successor so the inheritance can’t be invested all at as soon as. You can also set up a trust that pays out gradually. You can stipulate when and what the funds might be utilized for, such as educational expenses, a new house, or retirement savings.

Generally, there are two types of trusts:

  • testamentary trust is for when you pass away.
  • inter vivos trust is for when you’re alive.

Our Advisors

If this all sounds complex and tough, simply take things one action at a time. A proper estate plan will safeguard you, your family, and your wealth, now and in the years to come. Make the most of our knowledgeable advisors.

Remarried?

If you get separated or remarry, make sure you upgrade your will and account beneficiaries. In most provinces, a will is immediately revoked as soon as you remarry (or get married for the very first time, presuming you made your initial will when you were single). Your will isn’t immediately canceled when you get separated. A brand-new marriage license does not necessarily suggest your new partner is entitled to the entire estate. If you die without having actually made a will, your brand-new partner will have to share your estate– consisting of the house you lived in together– with your kids from a previous marriage. Even if you keep in mind to upgrade your will, your ex-spouse might acquire a piece of your estate if you do not upgrade the beneficiary of your life insurance policies.

Joint Assets

A popular estate-planning method is for parents to register a possession, such as a financial investment account or residence, in a joint name with an adult child. Joint ownership is typically established for the benefit and to reduce probate fees. While joint ownership can achieve both goals, issues may emerge. Positioning a possession in joint name with an adult kid can result in dissatisfied and unexpected repercussions. The ramifications of a joint or individual ownership of assets need evaluation for both income tax and probate functions. Often they are at odds.

Estate Freezing

HNWIs frequently choose to freeze the growth for their account of some or all of the assets now owned, for example, the family business. The predicted future development on the selected assets can then be passed to the benefit of other members of the family, such as a kid or grandchild. One estate freeze suggestions typically utilize the share structure of a private business. The general concept is for an individual to move certain assets at today’s fair market value for shares of equal value in the private business.

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