Wills and Estate Planning For Canadians For Dummies E-Book

Margaret Kerr

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 583

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Wills & Estate Planning For Canadians For Dummies walks you through the steps of planning your estate. This friendly guide will help you * Reduce the tax you or your estate will pay * Plan for your children's future * Leave a charitable legacy * Decipher the legal lingo in wills * Prepare a living will to ensure you get the treatment you want * Hire an estate planning team that will meet your needs Through practical advice from expert authors, this book helps you ensure that your affairs are in order, and your loved ones will be looked after.

Leseprobe

Wills & Estate Planning For Canadians For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

What You Don’t Have to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Estate Planning Basics

Part II: Estate Planning Tools

Part III: Creating an Estate Plan

Part IV: Putting Your Plan into Action

Part V: Readying Your Estate and Keeping it Up to Date

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Estate Planning Basics

Chapter 1: What Is Estate Planning, Anyway?

Understanding What Your Estate Is

Discovering What Estate Planning Is

Figuring Out Why You Need to Do Estate Planning

Getting a Handle on Estate Planning Tools

Knowing When You Should Make an Estate Plan

Looking After Your Needs

Planning in Case You Become Physically or Mentally Incapable

Getting Professional Help

Chapter 2: What Are You Worth? Preparing an Inventory of Your Estate

Figuring Out What You Own

Figuring Out What You Owe

Figuring Out Your Net Worth

Chapter 3: The Taxman Cometh: Taxes and Your Estate

Understanding Some Income Tax Basics

Income and capital gains

Capital gains

Capital losses

Taxable income

Discovering How Your Estate Will Be Taxed

Deciding What Your Tax Planning Goals Should Be

Considering Possible Tax Planning Strategies

Leaving everything to your spouse

Putting your money into your principal residence

Giving things away now

Freezing your estate

Donating to charity

Tax Planning That Takes Place after You Die

RRSPs

Capital losses and spousal rollovers

When the Taxman Finally Arriveth . . . With the Bill

Estimating the tax

Determining where the money will come from

Ensuring that the wrong person doesn’t get stuck with the bill

Investigating Probate Fees

Part II: Estate Planning Tools

Chapter 4: Money to Die For: The Mysteries of Life Insurance Revealed

Getting Acquainted with Life Insurance

Deciding Whether You Need Life Insurance

Calculating How Much Life Insurance You Need

If you need insurance to replace your income

If you need insurance to pay a debt or expense

If you need insurance to leave money

Determining Who Should Get the Insurance Money

Naming an individual as your beneficiary

Naming your estate as your beneficiary

Creating an insurance trust

Deciding on the Kind of Life Insurance You Want

Term insurance

Permanent insurance

Variations on a theme

Figuring Out Where and How to Get Life Insurance

Individual insurance

Group insurance

Finding Out How Much Life Insurance Costs

Insurance rating factors

Comparison shop

Individual insurance or group insurance

Learning What a Standard Life Insurance Policy Says

Individual insurance

Group insurance

Chapter 5: Free to a Good Home: Giving Away Your Things Before You Die

Giving Away Your Property While You’re Alive

Unwrapping Gifts

Figuring Out How to Make a Gift

Avoiding Giving Away Your Property without Meaning To

A gift made against your will is not a gift

A promise to give a gift is not a gift

But a promise to give a gift in return for something is a different matter

Planning So That You Won’t Live to Regret Your Gift

Can you afford the gift?

Will you have to pay tax on your gift?

Discovering Safer Ways Than Giving a Gift

A loan

A rental

An investment

A sale

RESPs

Co-ownership

A trust

Chapter 6: Pass the Buck: Using Trusts in Estate Planning

Getting Acquainted with Trusts

More about the players

More about the property

Deciding Whether a Trust Is Right for You and Your Family

Investigating the Different Kinds of Trusts

Testamentary trusts

Living trusts

Finding a Trustee You Can Trust

Looking at what a trustee does

Checking out the legal responsibilities of a trustee

Examining the powers of a trustee

Choosing a trustee

Paying a trustee

Paying the Taxes Associated with a Trust

Tax on the creation of the trust

Tax during the operation of the trust

Tax when your trust comes of age at 21

Tax on the termination of the trust

Paying the Expenses of a Trust

Set-up fees

Ongoing fees

Winding-up fees

Part III: Creating an Estate Plan

Chapter 7: A Crew for Your Ship of Estate: Beneficiaries and Executor

Considering Your Beneficiaries

The people you want to provide for

The people you have to provide for

The people you decided not to provide for

Distributing Your Estate Amongst Your Beneficiaries

Thinking about Your Executor

Looking at what an executor does

Examining an executor’s legal responsibilities

Choosing your executor

Chapter 8: Who’s Minding the Kids? Planning Your Children’s Future

Understanding Guardianship

Thinking the Unthinkable: When One or Both Parents Die

If one parent dies but the other is still alive and has custody

If one parent dies and that parent had sole custody

If both parents are dead

Choosing a Guardian for Your Children

Testamentary guardian

Helping to ensure your choice of guardian is respected

Looking at a Guardian’s Responsibilities

Guardian of the person and guardian of the property

Instructions for the guardian(s)

Providing for Your Children Financially

Determining where the money will come from

Considering how the money will be managed

Deciding who will manage the money

Thinking about where your children will live

Chapter 9: Giving Them the Business: What to Do with the Family Firm

Taking Stock of Your Situation

You may already be sold short

You may have options

Timing the Market

If you hold for the family

If you decide to sell

Placing Your Orders

If your business is a sole proprietorship

If your business is a partnership

If your business is a corporation

Hedging Your Bets

Someone who can step in

Insurance for your business

At the close

Chapter 10: You Gave at the Office, But . . . : Charitable Donations

Thinking about Giving to Charity

Looking at the reasons to give to charity

Considering how much to give

Exploring the tax advantages to leaving money to charity

Choosing the Right Charity

A charity that does the right kind of good

A charity that’s not good enough to be true

A charity that’s on good terms with Canada Revenue

A charity that looks a gift horse in the mouth

A charity that can’t take a hint

A charity that will put your name up in lights

Making Sure Your Donation Gets Where You Want It to Go

Get the charity’s name right

Guard against the charity’s untimely end

Looking at the Ways to Give to Charity

Gifts of cash made by will

Gifts of specific property made by will

Gifts of life insurance

Gifts of RRSP or RRIF proceeds

Charitable gift annuities

Charitable remainder trusts

Memorial donations

Chapter 11: Goodbye to All That: Plan Your Funeral and Organ Donation

Understanding Who Decides on the Details

Considering the High Cost of Death

It’s Your Funeral

Selecting a funeral home

Choosing a coffin

The funeral services contract

At Your Disposal: Earth, Air, Fire, or Water?

Burial

Burial at sea

Cremation

Air

The Gift That Keeps on Giving: Organ and Body Donation

Consenting to body part donation

Reviewing organ donation eligibility

Donating your body

Part IV: Putting Your Plan into Action

Chapter 12: If There’s No Will There’s No Way: Why You Need a Will

Investigating Where Your Property Will Go if You Die without a Will

If you’re married

If you’re married with children

If you’re not married but you have children

If you’re not married and you have no children

If you don’t want this to happen to you . . .

Finding Out Who Will Administer Your Estate

How will an administrator be found?

The application for letters of administration

Understanding the Difficulties That Will Arise in the Administration of Your Estate

A stranglehold on the administrator

Increased taxes

Government meddling

Mystery beneficiaries

Recognizing the Benefits of Having a Will

Chapter 13: Will Power

Looking at the Components of a Standard Will

Translating a Will into Plain English

Identification

Revocation of other wills

Naming the executor

Leaving property to the executor in trust

Payment of debts

Distributing the remaining property to the beneficiaries

Executor’s powers

Signing a Will

The testator must be legally capable of making a will

Legal formalities for signing and witnessing a will

Knowing What to Do After the Will Is Signed

Looking at What Can Go Wrong with Your Will

At the planning stage

At the drafting stage

Insufficient power to the executor

At the signing stage

After your will is signed

Considering the Dangers of Do-It-Yourself Wills

Holograph wills

Will Kits

Chapter 14: Powers of Attorney: Who’ll Manage Your Money for You if You Can’t?

Discovering What Will Happen to Your Finances if Your Physical or Mental Health Fails

Looking after business

Looking for help!

Examining the Different Types of Powers of Attorney

Enduring or continuing power of attorney

General or specific power of attorney

Banking power of attorney

Peering into the Contents of a Power of Attorney

Preparing a Power of Attorney

The attorney

The powers

The process

Knowing What to Do After the Power of Attorney Has Been Prepared

Investigating What Happens When Your Attorney Takes Over

The duties of an attorney

Discovering What Happens to Your Finances without a Power of Attorney

Seat-of-the-pants arrangements

Formal arrangements

Government arrangements

Chapter 15: Living Wills: Caring for You if You Can’t Care for Yourself

Understanding the Importance of Consent in Medical Treatment

Reviewing the Law Regarding Consent to Treatment

Looking at Treatments That Require Consent

Treatment that prolongs life

Treatment that eases death

Making Your Wishes Known

Investigating what a living will covers

Making a living will

Knowing what to do after you’ve made a living will

Understanding What Happens When Your Living Will Comes into Effect

Considering Possible Arrangements if You Haven’t Made a Living Will

Finding a substitute decision maker

Appointing a guardian of the person

Chapter 16: Getting Professional Help

Understanding Why and When You Need a Lawyer

When you’re planning your estate and your will

When you start to put your plan into action

When it comes time to put pen to paper

After you’re gone

Knowing what type of lawyer you want

A lawyer who knows something about wills and estates

A lawyer you like . . . or at least don’t loathe

Finding the Lawyer for You

Get recommendations

Investigate

Interview

Understanding How Lawyers Charge for Their Work

Billing at an hourly rate

Charging a flat rate

Knowing What to Expect of Your Lawyer

Dealing with an Unsatisfactory Lawyer

Getting the Most from Your Lawyer

How Your Lawyer Can Help You Assemble Your Team

Crunching Numbers with a Professional Accountant

Looking at the types of professional accountants

Understanding how accountants charge for their services

Finding an accountant

Determining Your Game Plan with a Financial Planner

Understanding how financial planners are paid for their services

Finding a financial planner

Knowing what to do if your financial planner messes up

Banking on Banks, Trust Companies, and Credit Unions

Getting Acquainted with Life Insurance Agents or Brokers

Understanding how agents and brokers are paid for their services

Finding an insurance agent or broker

Part V: Readying Your Estate and Keeping It Up to Date

Chapter 17: Don’t Leave a Mess Behind: Putting Your Affairs in Order

Preventing Your Death from Causing Confusion in Your Family

Before you die

After you die

Organizing the Documents and Instructions Your Family Will Need

If you become incapacitated before you die

After you die

Assembling the Documents Your Executor Will Need

The duties of an executor

Making your funeral arrangements

Collecting information about your estate

Applying for letters probate

Protecting the property of your estate

Gathering in the property of your estate

Making an inventory and valuing the property of your estate

Paying debts and taxes

Distributing your estate

Keeping Your Documents Safe

Chapter 18: It’s Even Better the Second Time Around: Updating Your Estate Plan

Discovering What’s Involved in Reviewing Your Estate Plan

Learning Why and When You Need to Review and Revise Your Estate Plan

Changes in your personal life

Changes in your executor’s life

Changes in your financial and economic life

Changes in the law

Changing Your Will

Making a codicil

Revoking and replacing your will

Choosing between a codicil or a new will

Updating Your Pensions and Insurance Policies

Life insurance policies

Pension plans

RRSPs and RRIFs

Revising Your Power of Attorney and Living Will

Power of attorney

Living will

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Lawyer

Ask the Lawyer

Then Ask Yourself

Chapter 20: Ten Tips for Using Your Computer for Estate Planning

Getting Financial Planning Help

Finding Income Tax Info

Looking for Insurance Help

Getting Information for Your Family Businesses

Locating Legal Information

Getting Government Information

Looking into Organ Donation

Investigating Charities

Researching Your Living Will

Appendix A: Prepare to Meet Your Lawyer

Appendix B: Instructions for Your Executor

Appendix C: Inventory for Your Executor

Wills & Estate Planning For Canadians For Dummies®

by Margaret Kerr and JoAnn Kurtz

Wills & Estate Planning For Canadians For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd6045 Freemont BoulevardMississauga, Ontario, L5R 4J3www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.

Published by John Wiley & Sons Canada. Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, cover design, and icons, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., 6045 Freemont Blvd., Mississauga, ON L5R 4J3, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. For authorization to photocopy items for corporate, personal, or educational use, please contact in writing The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For more information, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free, 1-800-893-5777.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., including all books published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., please call our distribution centre at 1-800-567-4797. For reseller information, including discounts and premium sales, please call our sales department at 416-646-7992. For press review copies, author interviews, or other publicity information, please contact our publicity department, Tel. [phone], Fax [phone].

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Kerr, Margaret Helen, 1954–         Wills & estate planning for Canadians for dummies / Margaret Kerr, JoAnn Kurtz.

Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-67657-8

        1. Estate planning—Canada—Popular works.  2. Wills—Canada—Popular works.  I. Kurtz, JoAnn, 1951–  II. Title.  III. Title: Wills and estates for Canadians for dummies.

KE5974.K47 2010       346.7105’2            C2009-907403-6           KF750.K47 2010

Printed in the United States

1 2 3 4 5 RRD 14 13 12 11 10

About the Authors

Margaret Kerr and JoAnn Kurtz first met when they were junior lawyers in a law firm. Because their offices were side by side, they were frequently to be found carrying on entertaining and often risqué conversations, especially whenever the senior partner walked by. When Margaret and JoAnn left the firm to pursue other opportunities (as they say), it looked like the perfect co-authorship was ended before it even started.

During their years apart, JoAnn ran a general law practice and started a family, while Margaret practised in the areas of legal research and civil litigation and honed her equestrian skills. They met again by chance when they were both teaching in the Bar Admission Course, each having discovered a taste for inflicting information about law on innocent minds. JoAnn suggested that Margaret join her in teaching law at a community college and the two were briefly reunited under one roof.

Now co-authorship could not be held off by fate any longer. One day JoAnn’s husband said to JoAnn and Margaret, “You two could write a book about buying a home.” “Of course we could,” they said, tossing their heads, and they immediately did so. The Complete Guide to Buying, Owning and Selling a Home in Canada (1997) became a Canadian bestseller.

Margaret and JoAnn made two strange discoveries after writing one book together — first, that they had fun writing as a team; and second, that writing books is addictive. The world just didn’t seem quite right without an editor demanding a complete manuscript exactly when JoAnn was experiencing a major family crisis or Margaret was away on business. So they started churning out books, together, alone, and with others: Make It Legal: What Every Canadian Entrepreneur Needs to Know About the Law; Facing a Death in the Family; Canadian Tort Law in a Nutshell (with Larry Olivo); Legal Research Step by Step (with Arlene Blatt); Family Law: Practice and Procedure (by JoAnn alone); Residential Real Estate Transactions (by JoAnn with Joan Emmans and Arlene Blatt); and Advocacy for Paralegals (by JoAnn with Arlene Blatt).

The Canadian media couldn’t help noticing the deluge of books, and JoAnn and Margaret have happily done numerous radio, TV, and newspaper interviews as well as author appearances.

Dedication

This book is affectionately dedicated to Mary Jane Woods.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

We didn’t achieve brilliant success with this book all by ourselves. We had help and we’re very grateful for it.

At Wiley we’d like to thank our editor on the first edition, Joan Whitman, and our editor on the second edition, Robert Hickey; our patient and hard-working copyeditor, Lisa Berland; and Lindsay Humphreys, who made sure our book went through production in a timely and orderly way. Then thanks to the following people and organizations who provided us with information on the first edition: Mary Jane Woods, Bernice Henry, Royal Trust, the Canadian Bar Association — Ontario, and the Law Society of Upper Canada. Thanks to Shashi Raina for his technical edit on this new edition.

A big thank you to the people who reviewed chapters of the book for us — Suzette Blom, Joan Emmans, Michael Engelberg, and Shashi Raina.

Finally we want to thank our families.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993 or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and Editorial

Editor: Robert Hickey

Copy Editor: Lisa Berland

Technical Editor: Shashi Raina

Project Editor: Lindsay Humphreys

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition

Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford

Layout and Graphics: Wiley Indianapolis Composition Services

Proofreader: Lisa Stiers

Indexer: Claudia Bourbeau

John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd

Bill Zerter, Chief Operating Officer

Jennifer Smith, Publisher, Professional & Trade Division

Karen Bryan, Vice-President, Publishing Services

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

NEWS FLASH: The end of the world is coming! Well, not the end of the entire world, just the end of your world. It’s probably not coming today, and it’s probably not coming tomorrow or even next week. But the nasty truth is that we’re all going to die some day. We usually can’t tell very far ahead what day our world will end. But we can plan ahead against that day.

About This Book

When we go, we can’t take anything with us. Our possessions stay behind. They may as well stay with people we choose rather than go to people the provincial government chooses or be spent on government taxes and fees that could (at least in part) be avoided.

This book will tell you how to plan for the end of life by creating an estate plan, making a will, and making a power of attorney and living will.

This book is designed to be used as a reference, and you don’t need to read it in any particular order. You can dip into a chapter here and a chapter there if you like. On the whole, though, you’ll probably get more out of this book if you start at the beginning, proceed to the middle, and continue on to the end (although not all in one sitting).

We don’t expect you to remember anything from one chapter to the next — we always refresh your memory as necessary.

What You Don’t Have to Read

You don’t have to read chapters that you think are unimportant to you. If you don’t have children, you could skip the chapter on making arrangements for your children to be looked after following your death. If you don’t own a business, you could skip the chapter on passing on your business.

You also don’t have to read any text preceded by the Technical Stuff icon in order to understand what we’re talking about.

Foolish Assumptions

This book was written for people who aren’t lawyers or accountants or insurance brokers or financial planners but who want to know how to plan their estate and make their will. We don’t assume that you have any background knowledge about law or income tax or insurance policies or funeral planning or anything else. We start at the beginning of each subject and build up information about it. We avoid using technical language when it’s not necessary, and we explain technical terms in plain English if you need to know them.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into six parts, each covering a major area of estate planning. The chapters within each part cover specific topics in detail.

Part I: Estate Planning Basics

In this part you’ll find the basic information you need to understand the estate planning process. In Chapter 1 we explain what your estate is, and what estate planning is and why you need to do it. In Chapter 2 we tell you how to prepare an inventory of your estate. In Chapter 3, probably the scariest part of this book, we tell you about the Canadian tax system and the impact of the federal Income Tax Act on estate planning. But don’t worry, we also tell you how to work with the income tax rules to keep taxes on your estate as low as possible. Then, as a bonus, we explain what probate fees are and offer some strategies for keeping them down too.

Part II: Estate Planning Tools

In Part II we introduce you to the tools commonly used to plan an estate. Chapter 4 helps you figure out whether you need life insurance and, if you do, how much; and gives you the information you need to decide which kind of life insurance is right for you. In Chapter 5 we talk about giving away your property before you die, and explain why there is no such thing as a simple gift. In Chapter 6 we talk your ear off about testamentary trusts and living trusts. In case you just can’t wait — trusts are a way to give property away while still keeping some control over it.

Part III: Creating an Estate Plan

In Part III we start to take you through the estate planning process. Chapter 7 assists you in choosing the people you’ll give your estate to (your beneficiaries) and the person who will manage your estate until it has been completely given away (your executor). In Chapter 8 we let you know what will happen to your young children if you die before them and how to make the best advance arrangements for their care. In Chapter 9 we explain what you have to do to pass your business on to family members or other people of your choosing. Chapter 10 helps you decide whether to give a gift to charity and when to do it (while you’re alive or in your will). Chapter 11, destined to become a cult classic, gives you the lowdown on planning your funeral and donating your organs.

Part IV: Putting Your Plan into Action

In Part IV we get down to the nitty-gritty of estate planning — creating the documents required to carry out the plan you’ve worked so hard on. In Chapter 12 we set out all the unpleasant things that will happen if you don’t make a will, and in Chapter 13 we actually show you a will, in all its glory, and tell you all the things that can go wrong if your will isn’t done right. In Chapter 14 we talk to you in our perky way about making arrangements to manage your finances if you become disabled before you die; and in Chapter 15 we cover arrangements to manage your physical care if you become unable to make decisions. In Chapter 16 we take a little pity on you and tell you how to get help with all the things we’ve told you you’d better do if you know what’s good for you.

Part V: Readying Your Estate and Keeping it Up to Date

Just when you think it must surely be all over by now, along comes Chapter 17. In that chapter we encourage you to put your affairs in order so you won’t drive your executor to an early grave or make your estate impossible to manage. It’s at this point that you’ll probably want to throw the book through a plate glass window. But if you resist that impulse in Chapter 17, you’ll almost certainly give in to it in Chapter 18, where we cheerily tell you that the only way to avoid going through the whole estate process again . . . maybe many times . . . is to die as soon as you’ve made your first estate plan and signed your first will.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

In Chapter 19 we build on our advice in Chapter 16 and suggest ten questions for you to ask a lawyer before you hire him or her. In Chapter 20 we offer ten tips for using the Internet in the estate planning process.

Icons

We use a number of icons in this book to guide you to information that’s particularly important or useful . . . or in one case, that’s particularly easy to ignore.

This icon draws your attention to important information that you’ve probably already forgotten if we told you about it before or that we want you to remember in the future.

This one reminds you that there are some things you mustn’t do without getting professional help from a lawyer.

And this one lets you know it’s probably safe to jump to the next paragraph, especially if your eyes are already glazing over from reading the paragraph that came before. But seriously, if you’re really interested in understanding the topic you should read these detailed definitions and explanations.

This icon alerts you that we’re saying something that could save you time, trouble, or money. When we hit a bull’s-eye, it could save you all three.

This ominous icon suggests not very subtly that you’re heading for trouble and very possibly complete disaster if you don’t follow our advice to the letter.

Where to Go from Here

Estate planning and wills were not invented for controlling people who want to keep their hands on their property after they’re dead. (Well, they weren’t invented just for never-say-die controllers. . .) They were invented for people who want to make sure that, after their death, life goes on fairly smoothly — financially if not emotionally — for their family and friends.

Part I

Estate Planning Basics

In this part . . .

This part gently introduces you to estate planning. We hardly ask you to think about your approaching end at all! Instead we tell you exactly what estate planning is, help you figure out the present size of your estate, and explain how Canadian tax laws affect your estate plan.

Chapter 1

What Is Estate Planning, Anyway?

In This Chapter

Figuring out what it means to have an estate

Knowing what estate planning involves

Exploring why estate planning is essential

Looking at the tools of the estate planning trade

Understanding the right time to prepare an estate plan

Ensuring that you’ll be financially covered in your lifetime too

Taking care of your needs in case you become physically or mentally incapable