Here are 5 reasons why you should have a Will: Create Certainty When There Are Changes in Your Family Creating a Will and ensuring that all documents are up-to-date is very important for the many people whose relationship status has changed. Changes can include marriage, separation, divorce, or a birth or a death in the family.…
As we get older it becomes more and more apparent that no matter how much we take care of ourselves and how much we try to avoid hardship, we cannot predict the possible obstacles that the future holds. By the age of 50, you have probably learned that even the best planned strategies need a…
A. Joint Wills, which basically combine the Will of two people into a single document, are not recognized under British Columbia law. Most couples create “mirror Wills” which are two separate Wills that are identical in all respects. For example, a husband and wife can make mirror Wills where they name each other as Trustee,…
Yes there are. An estate used to be divided on the basis of “consanguinity” and it is now divided in a “parentelic” manner. If you have a spouse and no “descendants”, everything goes to your spouse. If you have no spouse, everything goes to your descendants. If you have a spouse and descendants there is…
A Will’s Notice indicates that you have done a Will, the date it was signed and the location of the original. If you move and the location of your original Wills changes from what is in the Registry, or of course if you do a new Will, you should definitely file a new Notice with…
Not unless you have changes to your existing Will you would like to make. The new Wills, Estates and Succession Act does not invalidate any Wills that were written before it came into effect, although the Act affects all Wills, no matter when they were written. If you already have a Will, you may wish…
Q. When my spouse died recently, I was told that I needed to take in clothes to the funeral home so they could dress him even though he was being cremated. They told me that I was required to identify his remains although I thought that was done at the hospital. Did I have to…
It is a clause we include in a Will when we want to ensure that any previous loans to a residual beneficiary are considered at the time of distribution of the estate. For example, if you have two children and loaned “A” $100,000 and wanted to make sure that the loan was taken into account…
There is new estate-planning legislation in BC called the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (“WESA”) which came into effect March 31, 2014, and replaced most of our existing estate-planning legislation. Under the WESA, the Will would remain valid, but any gift to your wife or any appointment of her as your executor or trustee is…
There is new estate-planning legislation in BC called the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (“WESA”) which came into effect March 31, 2014, and replaced most of our existing estate-planning legislation and also our legislation dealing with probate. There are far too many changes to cover off in a short column, so I will try to…