Thursday 22 November 2012

FREE EXECUTOR KIT: A checklist for choosing an executor

1. Make a list of the people you know and trust who could do the executor job well 2. Consider the advantages of appointing more than one executor to work together. Perhaps neither one alone has all the tools necessary to get the job done, but as a team they do. This also has the benefit of sharing the load on more than one set of shoulders, and providing checks and balances - two heads may well be better than one. 3. Consider the value of a corporate executor, to reduce strain on family relations and ensure an impartial and expert estate administration 4. Ask your preferred executor if he or she is willing to accept the role. Be realistic about what the task will involve to elicit a meaningful response, because if your selection is unwilling or unhappy about taking on the responsibility, far better to find out now than to make it an issue after your death 5. If your executor agrees to act, inform affected beneficiaries to prevent unwelcome surprises at the time of death 6. Leave your executor written guidance about what the estate assets consist of, where to locate them, which advisers should be involved, whether family heirlooms require special treatment, and any funeral wishes to be follow. Send me an e-mail at wafa@setyoufree.ca or call me at 416-300-6774 for your FREE copy of The Exectutor Kit (Retail value $40)

Friday 16 November 2012

Every Canadian Should Have a Will and Estate Plan



1. Your family won’t starve in the cold.
Without an estate plan you may not leave enough money to your family to make sure they’ll always be warm and well fed.

2. Less of your estate will pay a permanent visit to the income tax department.
Without an estate plan you won’t be able to take advantage of tax-saving strategies

3. Your family won’t have to weep before a judge to get the right to manage your estate.
If you don’t make a will naming an executor, someone close to you will have to start a court proceeding to be appointed the administrator of your estate. Until the court makes a decision, no one will be able to touch your property

4. Your estate will be able to pay off your credit cards and still have something left for your family to go on a shopping spree.
With an estate plan, your estate may not have the money it will take to pay off your creditors and hand over a good sum to your family

5. Your family will be able to keep the heirloom brass spittoon lovingly handed down from generation to generation instead of getting cash with no sentimental value.
Without a will, your administrator may have to sell your property and hand out cash

6. The business you built up from scratch can be more easily passed on to the person of your choice — or at least not sold at a loss.
Without an estate plan, you can’t be sure where the business will end up and how much it will be worth when it gets there

7. Your children will be cared for.
Without a will, your wishes about who will look after your children may never be known

8. Your provincial government won’t be playing piggy bank with your children’s money.
Without a will that sets up a trust for young children until they come of age, the provincial government will hold any property you leave the kids — until they reach the age of majority