Ryan Hager from HD law has been my lawyer for a very long time. I trust him, I know he is honest and will do good work. If you need to discuss your will or any other legal matter Ryan is a great contact.
Why you should have a current will.
Having a will almost certainly saves money in the long run as it can streamline the process of dealing with your property and affairs as well as avoiding delays. There are many possible choices that you can make about how you want your estate to be managed and the process of creating a will can help you identify and realize your goals in ensuring that what you have worked to build during your lifetime can be meaningfully and appropriately managed after you are gone.
Even without a will, there is a kind of “default” set of rules about how your estate will be distributed and if you have surviving family, your property will likely get distributed to someone in your family before it would be lost to the government (although it may be to someone that wouldn’t have been your choice). The real issue is that if you don’t have a will then you don’t get to have a say if you don’t want the “default” set of rules to apply, meaning that you don’t get to say who you want to be in charge of distributing your property, you don’t get to decide if you want to leave specific gifts to specific people, nor if you want to set aside different shares of your estate for different purposes or in different proportions, if you want to include charitable gifts, if you want to spread out or delay when younger beneficiaries will receive an inheritance, if you want to protect a legacy you have created, among other things.
If you have minor or dependant children and you would like to specify a guardian in the event that they are orphaned by your passing, a will is the mechanism to do that. Having a will provides certainty about what your wishes are to the people that are left behind and it can help to prevent disagreements and disputes.
Why you should review your will.
If you already have a will, reviewing it from time to time is important to ensure that it still meets your planning goals. This is especially true if you have had significant life changes, such as marriage, separation, divorce, birth of children or grandchildren, diagnosis of an immediate family member with a medical condition that will require lifetime care or support, starting a new business or moving to a new province or country. It is also possible that changes in the law itself may cause your will to no longer suit your planning goals. By reviewing your will occasionally with your lawyer you can ensure that it stays current and continues to suit your goals and plans.
Truth vs. Rumors
You’ve probably heard many times that you should have a will, and you may have been told that it’s important so that “the government won’t take all your property”. However, in truth, the likelihood of the government getting all your property if you don’t have a will isn’t really all that likely unless you pass away with no family members who would be aware of your passing.
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