By Jayson Schwarz LLM and Jacqueline Moneta JD
Just a friendly reminder to all of us to stop putting off our estate planning. Making a will is actually much easier and less complicated than it may seem when you work with an experienced lawyer.
With families now coming in so many different shapes and sizes, your lawyer can help your blended family answer important questions like reviewing your obligations to legal spouses, ex-spouses, separated spouses and common law spouses. They can also advise you with respect to obligations for your children and step children, which may help avoid conflicts down the road.
If you have loved ones with disabilities, it’s especially important to plan for their unique needs. Your advisors can assist with all aspects of setting up the right plan for the care of your dependent with a disability in the event of your death. It’s not a one size fits all when it comes to planning for family with disabilities. It’s important to arrange for the financial and personal care of your loved ones, and will involve both legal and practical considerations. In these cases often a Henson Trust is required to provide for specialised care of your disabled family member as the future unfolds.
As we go forward to plan for the future after we are gone a critical issue is the appointment of those who will administer our estates. Who will be in charge? The responsibility for distributing your assets in accordance with your wishes or administering the distribution of income and capital from a trust are serious considerations. Speak to your accountant, your lawyer and have open sdiscussion with your family to achieve the best result.
Today, most people also have family and assets spread out in different jurisdictions around the world. Now is the time to plan what happens to your bank accounts or real estate holdings in other countries. Importantly for your beneficiaries, it’s also crucial to plan for tax burdens as these vary significantly depending on the locations of the assets or beneficiaries. Tax planning to recognise whether there is a Tax Treaty or not; whether there will be double taxation and other considerations mean you need to consult with your professional advisors to figure this out in advance and not leave problems after you are gone.
Let us not forget that when you are having your will made you also need Powers of Attorney (“POA”). What is this? A lot of people wrongly refer to them as living wills. What a POA does is puts someone in charge if G-d forbid you are no longer capable of running your affairs or looking after yourself. We never know when something might happen and then it is too late to provide. This is very important to protect yourself and those you love from the insecurity of not knowing who has to make the hard choices. There are 2 POA’s. one is for property of all kinds nd the oother for personal health. You need you bills paid and someone to make life decisions. Don’t wait!!!!!
While planning a will or POA can seem daunting, in reality it is typically a quick process and can provide huge piece of mind. Be sure to work with an experienced estate lawyer who can narrow in on your unique needs. So take this as your reminder to stop procrastinating and call your lawyer today!
Perhaps the most difficult part of writing these articles relates not the actual writing, but thinking of a topic to address. So help us!!! Mail, deliver or fax letters to the magazine or to us, use the web site (www.schwarzlaw.ca), email (info@schwarzlaw.ca) and give us your questions, concerns, critiques and quandaries. We will try to deal with them in print or electronic form.
Jayson Schwarz LLM is the Senior Partner and Founder of Schwarz Law Partners LLP and Jacqueline Moneta is the head of the Commercial Law Section of the firm.