Spring Cleaning Your Estate: Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Probate

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With tax season officially behind us, the pressure of deadlines has lifted. This makes May the perfect time to look at the "Big Picture" of your financial health—specifically, your estate plan. Estate planning often gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list, but life changes such as marriage, divorce, or the birth of grandchildren require immediate updates to your documents.

As with anything with legal implciations, t is recommended that you review with your lawyer if you have any specific questions to your situation.

 

The Impact of Marriage and Divorce

In Alberta, the Wills and Succession Act dictates how your relationships affect your estate.

  • Marriage: Unlike in some other jurisdictions, marriage does not automatically revoke an existing will in Alberta. However, it does grant your new spouse rights to your estate that might conflict with an old will.

  • Divorce: Divorce generally revokes any gift left to a former spouse in your will, but it does not revoke the will entirely. It is cleaner and safer to draft a new will immediately upon a change in marital status to ensure your intentions are clear and legally binding.

 

Understanding Probate Fees

Probate is the legal process of validating a will. In some provinces, probate fees (or Estate Administration Tax) can be substantial.

  • Alberta Advantage: Alberta has relatively low probate fees compared to provinces like BC or Ontario, but minimizing the estate passing through probate is still a smart strategy to ensure privacy and speed of distribution.

 

Strategies to Simplify

One of the most effective ways to simplify your estate administration is to run everything through your estate.  Having joint names on accounts or beneficiaries (other than your spouse) can lead to complexities when disbursing your estate in accordance with you rwill.

The Bottom Line

A will is not a "one and done" document. It should evolve as your life does. Use the calm after tax season to review your documents and ensure they still reflect your wishes.  Any questions on the tax impact of your estate or will?  Reach out to JMH for a review.

 

This blog was written using the assistance of AI.

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