Wills | Page 7 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Wills

mimico_polak said:
Yes, it's never easy. I'll check out what they wrote and then see what potential issues are.

I'm ok with them putting me up as we've talked with my dad multiple times since they didn't have an updated will since the 90s.
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Make notes of who is exactly named for what. As @Mad Mike said, Power of Attorney only matters while the person who wrote the Will is alive. When the hospital informed my sister and I my Dad wasn't going to live much longer we took action using Power of Attorney. If he had passed it instantly would have been a useless piece of paper and Executor status would not have given us the authority to make those changes to the estate.

TLDR:

Power of Attorney (2 separate types) manages the assets (property, cash, etc) and person (make health decisions) if said person is incapable of rendering their consent; parent unresponsive in the hospital needing a surgery for example.

Executor is responsible for carrying out the 'Will' of the deceased. You do all the leg work with creditors, write the checks to creditors and beneficiaries, dealing with final tax return to CRA and getting the clearance certificate (if you don't have this and CRA judges the estate still owes they will come after YOU.)

Beneficiary sit back and gripe at the Executor to hurry up and pay you.

Finally do not be afraid to ask a lawyer for advice. For example, you have Power of Attorney and the individual is going to pass soon, what action would they advise to be taken while you have the power to do so? We did and we saved money.
 
Evoex said:
Make notes of who is exactly named for what. As @Mad Mike said, Power of Attorney only matters while the person who wrote the Will is alive. When the hospital informed my sister and I my Dad wasn't going to live much longer we took action using Power of Attorney. If he had passed it instantly would have been a useless piece of paper and Executor status would not have given us the authority to make those changes to the estate.

TLDR:

Power of Attorney (2 separate types) manages the assets (property, cash, etc) and person (make health decisions) if said person is incapable of rendering their consent; parent unresponsive in the hospital needing a surgery for example.

Executor is responsible for carrying out the 'Will' of the deceased. You do all the leg work with creditors, write the checks to creditors and beneficiaries, dealing with final tax return to CRA and getting the clearance certificate (if you don't have this and CRA judges the estate still owes they will come after YOU.)

Beneficiary sit back and gripe at the Executor to hurry up and pay you.

Finally do not be afraid to ask a lawyer for advice. For example, you have Power of Attorney and the individual is going to pass soon, what action would they advise to be taken while you have the power to do so? We did and we saved money.
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POA for property should be close to if not the executor when the time is near. A final days plan is a good idea. Liquidating cash accounts, TFSA, handing out possessions that are in the will (cars, collections, bike collection, liquid investments to an account controlled by the executor or directly to beneficiaries saves them from probate.

When mil went to palliative, her daughter listed and sold the house before she passed.

Sometimes the grim one shows up by surprise, sometimes he gives you notice.
 
mimico_polak said:
Yes, it's never easy. I'll check out what they wrote and then see what potential issues are.

I'm ok with them putting me up as we've talked with my dad multiple times since they didn't have an updated will since the 90s.
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Some things a dollar store will may not consider:

Grandchildren. All natural grandchildren are bequeathed 5% of the estate. There is no bequeath to grandchildren that are acquired thru remarriages.

Stirpes. If the main beneficiaries (usually children) predecease them, the deceaseds children (not spouse) inherit the deceased child’s bequeath.

MAID and DNR conditions. If there are positions on these, they should be clearly stated in a will.
 
GreyGhost said:
I looked through my parents and inlaws. Flagged one issue where if they both die within 30 days, grandkids get double the (theoretical) inheritance. That was not their intent. Prepared by lawyers. They asked and lawyers were happy with wording. In the off-chance that clause gets invoked and there is money to distribute, I will get things corrected after distribution. Family had to do that after an aunt died and the plan had always been that her house went to her niece but at some point she changed the will and included multiple benefactors. The added benefactors signed their share over to the niece as intended. It's nice to have a mostly functional family.

On the estates I am executor for, it was clearly stated in the wills. Some of the estates are simple, some will be a nightmare (assets in multiple countries and a co-executor I have never met). In all cases, I am doing it to support the person that will have died. I expect they will almost all be losers on the time/money spectrum.
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If one of the executors is in another country it becomes a nightmare as they have to post a stupid high bond.

There should be an odd number of executors to prevent a tie decision and it should be clarified if decisions are to be unanimous or majority.
 
nobbie48 said:
If one of the executors is in another country it becomes a nightmare as they have to post a stupid high bond.

There should be an odd number of executors to prevent a tie decision and it should be clarified if decisions are to be unanimous or majority.
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The best odd number for executors is 1.
 
backmarkerducati said:
IMO they should have asked first but I also get it is actually a hard question to ask for many reasons. At least you know and it is not dropped on you later when...

One complexity I am sure they covered is if one of you passes before your parents. Do spouses get the money, do the grand kids. How is it split (equally per person or in half--for you and your sister's families--and then each half split between that passed person's kids). What about minors.. Down the rabbit hole you go. No perfect solution... we did ours recently so we know all the PITA factors.
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Factor the above into a blended family where one spouse wants their assets to only go to their DNA.

The hardest part of leaving money to a minor is trying to guess what they will be like when the get the inheritance. I know a guy that got just shy of 100K when he was about 30 YO. Gone in a year with nothing to show.

When he got it it would have been a decent down payment on a condo.

Ruling from the grave is also futile.
 
nobbie48 said:
If one of the executors is in another country it becomes a nightmare as they have to post a stupid high bond.

There should be an odd number of executors to prevent a tie decision and it should be clarified if decisions are to be unanimous or majority.
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Both executors are in gta. Assets are in three countries around the world. As you need to be in country to deal with the affairs, there are names of trusted lawyers in each country to liquidate and return the funds to Canada.
 
So it looks fairly clean. I’m executor and POA if I’m alive. If not, sister is.

This goes for property, and any accounts, investments etc.

Everything can be liquidated and 50/50 between siblings. If one sibling deceased then their assets are split into equal portions for the children (not spouse).

Seems simple enough.
 
mimico_polak said:
So it looks fairly clean. I’m executor and POA if I’m alive. If not, sister is.

This goes for property, and any accounts, investments etc.

Everything can be liquidated and 50/50 between siblings. If one sibling deceased then their assets are split into equal portions for the children (not spouse).

Seems simple enough.
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POA for health/person?
 
A widowed friend of mine is in his 80s and not in good health. No valid will or POA's. He doesn't like the way his only child, a son, manages money and I don't blame him. Most of the wealth is in real estate, a GTA house and a cottage. Not enough cash to pay probate and Cap Gains on RRIFs etc.

If there is no change, I assume the son can apply to be all of the above. I also assume it doesn't happen overnight at the post office.
 
nobbie48 said:
A widowed friend of mine is in his 80s and not in good health. No valid will or POA's. He doesn't like the way his only child, a son, manages money and I don't blame him. Most of the wealth is in real estate, a GTA house and a cottage. Not enough cash to pay probate and Cap Gains on RRIFs etc.

If there is no change, I assume the son can apply to be all of the above. I also assume it doesn't happen overnight at the post office.
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That's not good. He would do well to clean up as much as he can now and if possible setup a system to support his son. For instance, if he no longer visits the cottage, sell it. Pay the CG tax, take the rest and buy an annuity. Kid may suck at money but it makes it hard to blow it all (although I'm sure you can find someone to cash out the annuity at a terrible rate). Sale of house generates cash to cover death taxes and gives kid a windfall to blow. Or if dad is really concerned (eg if kid will put the money up his nose), draw up a will with a favorite charity as benefactor and their representative as executor. Estate secure.
 
This is such a depressing, yet necessary topic. I don't like it at all.

I think I actually teared up a little bit while I was reading it because it's right there in black and white. My parents will die at some point in time. No way around it, no way to defer it, or mitigate it (outside of healthy lifestyle to the best of your abilities) and it kind of opened my eyes looking at them.

But thanks to this community, and to some extent others, it was a conversation and deed that had to be done. So thanks for that to everyone that contributed.
 
I'll keep this thread alive a bit longer ... my dad passed away Feb14, exactly 1 year after my kids other grandfather passed away. Spooky.

My mom's still alive.

There are 3 kids, me, a brother, & a sister. Brother is out west while sister & I are in the GTA.

We've just been through an issue where brother wanted dads car and agreed to pay us 2 our thirds. He was going to ship it out his way by train but didn't want to pay us until he got the car in his possession (shipping service wouldn't insure car as it's older than 6 years). We said no, you buy the car, you take the risk when it leaves mom's garage (mom doesn't drive btw). No different than if the shoe was on the other foot & no different than if you were to sell your car to someone else ... you don't wait for payment until the new owner gets it in his hands.

He'd basically stiff us both if the worse was to happen along the way and the car was a write-off.

He didn't agree so instead is flying here and driving it all the way to MB. It's a 2006 Subaru that's admittedly in great shape with low km's for it's age.

Anyway, my sister & I are realizing he's going to be a problem. Currently all 3 are POA and all 3 are Executors. My sister & I have discussed having mom making either me or her the Executor (we're both sensible & fair while he's self-entitled & selfish). She can supposedly do that without anyone's knowledge right?

2nd question: Probate fees. If I'm correct, the fee in Ontario for $2 mill in assets is $30k. Did not realize it'd be that much. Is it best to transfer ownership to all 3 of us before mom passes at market value? We'd then sell it asap and ideally have very little capital gains tax, right?

Thanks all.
 
LBV said:
I'll keep this thread alive a bit longer ... my dad passed away Feb14, exactly 1 year after my kids other grandfather passed away. Spooky.

My mom's still alive.

There are 3 kids, me, a brother, & a sister. Brother is out west while sister & I are in the GTA.

We've just been through an issue where brother wanted dads car and agreed to pay us 2 our thirds. He was going to ship it out his way by train but didn't want to pay us until he got the car in his possession (shipping service wouldn't insure car as it's older than 6 years). We said no, you buy the car, you take the risk when it leaves mom's garage (mom doesn't drive btw). No different than if the shoe was on the other foot & no different than if you were to sell your car to someone else ... you don't wait for payment until the new owner gets it in his hands.

He'd basically stiff us both if the worse was to happen along the way and the car was a write-off.

He didn't agree so instead is flying here and driving it all the way to MB. It's a 2006 Subaru that's admittedly in great shape with low km's for it's age.

Anyway, my sister & I are realizing he's going to be a problem. Currently all 3 are POA and all 3 are Executors. My sister & I have discussed having mom making either me or her the Executor (we're both sensible & fair while he's self-entitled & selfish). She can supposedly do that without anyone's knowledge right?

2nd question: Probate fees. If I'm correct, the fee in Ontario for $2 mill in assets is $30k. Did not realize it'd be that much. Is it best to transfer ownership to all 3 of us before mom passes at market value? We'd then sell it asap and ideally have very little capital gains tax, right?

Thanks all.
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Brother doesn't need to be notified that will or POA changed. Obviously you will want a rock solid trail showing the change and justification. The official story can be proximity and expediency. Brother will probably lose his crap and argue undue influence which is why you need the good paper trail to try to shut that down with minimal lawyer bills.

I can't help you with probate. As far as CG due, that depends on what the assets are. Her primary dwelling (assuming she didn't rent out part of it) should be clean and simple. If she has investments, there is a very good chance there is a tax bill.

I'd pay to have a chat with a lawyer (and maybe an accountant) on the best way forward. The bill for the conversation will be dwarfed by the money and hassle saved.
 
Main asset by far is a house, primary residence for mom. All 3 of us have our own primary residences.
 
@LBV Probate fees are $15 for every $1k in estate (above the first 50k).

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So yes...about 30k in probate fees on a 2M estate.

The more that is in your (and your siblings' name) the less probate to it. As your mother is the primary residence, she can add you to the title, and no capital gains or any probate as you're now part owner.

However, add the brother that isn't seeing eye to eye, and he can cause issues down the line.

For me, it's just my sister and I. I would hope that there's no issues if I say I want some tools / watches / dad's E350 and I don't expect it. But if she puts up a fuss...I'm prepared to just sell it all to keep the peace.

I'd prefer if parents sold everything so there's on issue, but that's their decision...not ours.
 
Yeah, in hindsight we should have just sold the Subaru and split the funds.
 
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