Couple’s Will – Writing Wills as a couple in Canada.

Fifty-five percent of the people who use the Will writing service at LegalWills.ca describe themselves as married, while a further eleven percent are in a common-law relationship. In most cases, these people are preparing their Wills as a couple. In this post we want to break down exactly what is meant by a Couple’s Will, and the steps involved in creating Wills for two people when using the service at LegalWills.ca

Creating a couple's Will at LegalWills.ca — Couple creating their Will at LegalWills.ca

How can I prepare a Will in Canada?

Let us start by discussing the different ways to prepare a Last Will and Testament in Canada. It boils down to essentially three approaches:

Continue reading →

Why writing a Will is the first thing to do as a new parent

Guest post by Barry Choi: a personal finance and travel expert based in Toronto who makes frequent media appearances. His website moneywehave.com is one of Canada’s top resources for anything related to travel and money. Barry shares his thoughts on the importance of Writing Will as a new parent.

In 2017, my wife and I welcomed our daughter to the world. I wish I could tell you everything went according to plan, but it took years to get pregnant. It’s not like something just clicked one day, we had to get help via IVF.

It was a daunting process with many appointments and tens of thousands of dollars spent. We researched the topic and spoke to various healthcare professionals and parents who also faced a similar ordeal. When she was finally born, we knew she was a miracle, so we wanted to ensure that we cherished every moment with her.

Writing a Will as a new parent — Credit: Pexels

Unfortunately, we made one significant mistake right away. We didn’t get our wills set up. It took close to a year before we got them done and admittedly, there was more than one occasion where I thought to myself, what if?

Continue reading →

What should be included in a Will if you have children?

If you have young children, it is critical to write a Will. The challenge of course is that you are busy. Co-ordinating time with a lawyer, and perhaps your partner, is very difficult. So difficult, that this is a task that is unlikely to make it to the top of the To-Do list for today, or even this week.

Fortunately online services like the Will writing service at LegalWills.ca makes the process much more convenient and significantly more affordable than preparing a Will with a lawyer.

This article gives an overview of why a Will is critical, what you can do within a Will, specifically if you have children, and how you can prepare a Will in a cost effective and convenient way. We also discuss why and how you can update a Will if circumstances change.

What are the key elements in a Will?

You probably think of a Will as a document that describes the distribution of your assets (possessions) after you have passed away. This is, of course, a significant part of a Will, and one of the most important reasons for preparing one.

Continue reading →

Mirror Will – What is it? When should I use it? Is it right for me?

What is a Mirror Will?

A Mirror Will is actually two Wills, usually created by partners or married couples. The two Wills typically name each partner as the main beneficiary of the other partner’s estate. There may be other specific gifts within the Will, such as gifts to charities, but the two Wills look identical to each other, except that typically, the name of the main beneficiary is the partner of each testator.

Person A leaves everything to Person B. Person B leaves everything to Person A.

Then for the two Wills to be true mirror Wills, each Will describes an identical alternate plan in the event that both partners are involved in a common accident. Often this is that the entire estate is then distributed to the children.

Continue reading →

Dying without a Will in Canada

If a Canadian dies without a Will, they have left a bit of a mess for their loved ones, and sadly missed out on an opportunity to distribute their assets in a meaningful way. Instead of recognizing friends or organizations that have made an impact on their life, they have left all of the planning to their Provincial government who have already decided how the assets will be divided. It may come as a surprise however, to learn that every Province is different and that there are some very inaccurate assumptions. In this post we will run through a few scenarios, and highlight some Provincial differences.