Wills & Estate Planning
Effective estate planning means being as specific as possible about the most important things. Your Will and estate plan can be amended as relationships change, new family members are born, and life happens. Many people avoid getting a head start on estate planning because they may believe that it’s too ‘early.’ Others don’t want to think about what would happen after their passing.
Regardless of the reasons for avoiding estate planning, deferring it can make the process more complicated and contentious. When you work with LeClair Thibeault, our Calgary law firm will make the estate planning process as stress-free as possible.
contact usThe Importance Of A Will
With our expertise, we guide you through the process of ensuring your final wishes are not only legally sound but also reflect your unique values. A well-drafted Will is your enduring voice, offering clarity, peace of mind, and a safeguard against unforeseen complications.
Will Amendments
A common reason why people put off having a legal Will written is because they don’t quite understand it. They think a legal Will is an unchanging and unalterable thing. Contrary to popular belief, Wills can be easily amended. If your circumstances change, LeClair Thibeault can make necessary modifications to ensure your Will accurately reflects your wishes.
Avoid Hefty Tax Bills
There is no ‘death tax’ or inheritance tax in Canada. However, the sale of the estate can be subject to certain taxes unless it’s passed to the surviving spouse or common-law partner. Proper estate planning can protect the estate from tax bills. We specialize in making sure assets are restructured, ensuring that the inheritance is clearly established while also handling other details.
Structure The Estate To Avoid Contention
Avoiding family disputes over assets is a priority for many clients. Common causes of conflicts are major assets not being clearly assigned, complicated stipulations resulting in disputes with the estate, or issues related to jointly held property. Our Calgary Wills and estate planning practice helps you to avoid these and other pitfalls.
Creating Peace Of Mind
If you want to guarantee there will be a smooth transfer of property and assets when you pass, your Will must be done correctly. There are many misconceptions about Wills among the general population.
Wills are relatively simple and useful documents, but only when drawn up correctly. Hiring a law firm to assist with your Will and estate plans will ensure that the document contains the information needed to prevent future conflict.
Benefit Of Having A Will
A sound Will accomplishes a relatively small number of things. For example, it names an executor for the estate and describes how to pay taxes and debts. If you have a family or animals, it identifies guardians for children, dependents and pets. It also serves as a backup option to a trust or other entity designed for estate purposes.
Start Planning Your WillName The Executor
The executor is the person charged with carrying out the terms of the Will. If the Will doesn’t name an executor, the court will appoint one. Pick someone you trust.
Establish Guardianship
If you have children or other dependents, establishing guardianship with your Will can prevent any serious issues from arising. The guardian will care for your children until at least the age of 18.
Establish An Overall Plan
The Will is just a starting point for estate planning. It doesn’t have to contain everything. You can work on your overall estate plan for years. As time goes on, try to plan how you want assets disbursed and to whom.
Clear Up Taxes & Debts
The Will establishes how the estate will address taxes and debts, including what priorities there are as allowed by law. A key benefit of hiring an estate planning law firm is that we can help you to protect the estate’s assets.
Enduring Power Of Attorney
Enduring Power of Attorney is essential to protecting the interests of those who may become incapacitated due to health reasons, including the elderly, the infirm, and those with mental illness issues, where they have trouble managing their own affairs.
Enduring Power of Attorney empowers a trusted individual to act on behalf of another person in effectively managing their affairs and protecting them from being exploited by other people.
Learn MoreProtect The Elderly
Elders can be especially vulnerable to con artists, corrupt elder care institutions, and other bad characters. Establishing a Power of Attorney can protect their interests.
Include It In A Plan
Even a healthy person with no serious medical issues should consider naming someone to have Power of Attorney. Serious accidents can cause incapacity.
Don’t Wait
You can establish conditions for Enduring Power of Attorney. It doesn’t have to be named immediately. By planning early, you will prevent conflict and confusion later.
Make End Of Life Easier
You can make the end of life care simpler by naming someone with Enduring Power of Attorney. Avoid future estate issues related to missed bills and unpaid debts.
Personal Directives
Personal directives are important to ensure that your wishes regarding medical care in the event of serious circumstances are respected. As Alberta’s population ages, the quality and cost of end of life care is becoming a more pressing issue and personal directives are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Our estate planning experts can help you to work out the details.
Setting up personal directives is important if you want a voice in how medical care will be provided to you if you are incapacitated and determine who has the authority to make medical decisions on your behalf. It also limits the use of medical treatments that cause severe impediments to your future quality of life and limits the expenses to your estate caused by end of life care.
Learn MoreReduce Costs
End of life medical costs due to elective operations and treatments can bite into the value of an estate. You can cut down on costs with advanced directives.
Avoid Side Effects
Large medical interventions can have significant negative consequences for long term health. A personal directive can help you to have your preferences obeyed.
More Quality Of Life
Personal directives can enhance your quality of life by allowing you to forgo interventions like chemotherapy and surgery under certain conditions.
Expert Estate Administration
Ensure that your estate is left in good hands. We can plan out estate administration for you or take an active role. Naming an outside party to take an active role in the administration of your estate can cut down on complexity, errors, and unwanted conflict revolving around your estate. Administering the estate allows for us to handle common estate issues like compliance with personal directives, ensuring the Will is obeyed, and that various trusts and other entities receive the correct funds and assets.
Living Trusts
Living trusts provide more detailed control over who inherits assets and under what conditions they become eligible for inheritance.
Executor Compliance
The executor must handle all of their responsibilities in a timely fashion to avoid having the estate accumulate unnecessary charges and expenses.
Will Enforcement
In the case of disputes involving the Will, our Calgary law firm can help to clear them up or to establish alternative documentation substantiating claims.
Avoid Probate
One primary goal of proper estate administration is to keep the assets of the estate out of probate court. Improper estate administration can lead to this happening.
Forms & Intake
Get started on drafting your Will or estate plan with one of our simple, easy to understand forms. You can accomplish a lot in five minutes. We know that most people want to put off drafting their Will and planning their estate. No one wants to think about what might come after. That’s why we’ve made the process of getting started as easy and commitment-free as possible. The entire form takes just a few minutes to fill out and handles many of the details needed to get started on your Will. See? That’s not so bad, is it?
Request one of our convenient intake forms to define:
- The Executor
- Guardians for Dependents and Children
- Beneficiary Names
- Personal Representative Names
- Funeral Instructions
- Life Insurance/RRSP Beneficiaries
- A Wipeout Clause
Easy Estate Planning
Spend just minutes naming guardians, beneficiaries, and your funeral instructions. These few items will get you most of the way towards finishing your Will. It can be that easy.
Take Your Time
Defining the details of inheritance can be deferred or delegated to a living trust. You can prevent the worst consequences of avoiding estate planning with a Will.
Fast Responses
At LeClair Thibeault, we live up to our slogan: Done Now. Done Right. ® The way we fulfill it with estate planning is to provide easy to use intake forms.
Expert Legal Advice
With estate planning, it’s crucial to get all the common points of future conflict and confusion ironed out as early as possible. We take care of that for you.
