COVID-19 has naturally prompted many Canadians to reflect on their own mortality and the well-being of their loved ones. Times like these can provide an impetus to ensure our estate plans are up to date, or to get started if we haven’t yet. It’s a difficult but important thing to consider, so you can ensure your wishes are realized and your beneficiaries are set up for success after you are gone.

 

Your estate plan: Leaving a legacy for tomorrow means planning today

Establishing how you wish your financial affairs and assets – your “estate” – to be handled when you die is an important component of financial planning. A desire to leave a legacy behind when you pass on – whatever that legacy may be – has critically important implications for your financial plan today, as it can dictate how you allocate your assets, and how those assets are handled and/or managed. Integrating your estate plan with your financial and investment plans is critical to your long-term success – today and beyond.

 

Your Will: Where there’s a Will, there’s a way

Ensuring your estate is settled and disbursed based on your wishes requires a Will. A Will expresses in clear and legally valid terms your wishes after you are gone, and a good Will does so effectively, thoughtfully and efficiently. If you die without a Will, it means you have died “intestate” – and in that case the government’s intestacy rules kick in. This means that your wishes may not factor into how your estate is settled, but rather the government’s standard formulas will determine how your estate is settled instead.

 

Power of Attorney: Plan for the possible but unpredictable

Another aspect of estate planning that is often overlooked but is just as crucial for you and your family is a Power of Attorney. This is a legal document that empowers a person or an institution to act on your behalf, should you be unable to yourself. These powers can be either very broad – power over all of someone’s affairs and finances – or more specific to their property, financial matters or health care.

 

Estate planning: It’s important, and it can be complicated, but we can help

Estate planning is important at any time. But the unprecedented times we are experiencing today can serve as a strong catalyst to action. Most of us want to help our families and beneficiaries by ensuring that they don’t have to take on an unnecessary burden after we’re gone, including unnecessary legal or tax issues that can lead to financial losses or family disputes. That’s where your estate plan comes in.

 

We can help you build or update your estate plan, and integrate it into your financial and investment plan. Together with our partners at RBC Royal Trust, we are able to offer a wide range of estate planning services virtually – so you can stay safe at home while we get through these troubled times.