Avoid These Last Will Mistakes – Use this Three-Step Checklist

Step 1. Do you have a legal, up-to-date last will?

Keep your will updated for changes in your relationships or assets and note how your wishes have changed.

If will formalities are not complied with, your will can be declared invalid. Judges can refuse to declare wills valid if they are prepared in suspicious circumstances. This can freeze your estate in court. Will disputes can drag relatives into court with lawyers and increase costs and delays for years.

Online will service providers only provide guidance but not legal advice. They do not go to court with you to defend your out-of-date will. Don’t expect AI to defend your will.

Do you have minor beneficiaries? Update your will to provide for their guardians and decisionmakers. Do you need trusts to manage their inheritance?

What if you have a business? Consider if you need a separate will to deal with your business assets. This can also reduce provincial estate taxes.

Who confirms the formalities when you sign legal documents online? Who can prove there are no suspicious circumstances or undue influence when you prepared your wills without a lawyer?

You may feel that preparing a will online is adequate. However, online wills are really do-it-yourself wills and may give you a false sense of security. What you print and sign may not be valid.

Remember that wills are legal documents that judges can declare invalid for numerous reasons.

You may need advice to decide who is your executor or a backup executor, and your attorneys named under powers of attorney.

Ask yourself what happens if the will that you make it is not valid. If you miss any one of the legal formalities, your loved ones may have to apply in court to have a judge determine if there is substantial compliance with the rules to treat your document as a valid will.

Invest in a professionally prepared will. Lawyers are expert witnesses in court to defend your wills. They must defend your wills in court not like online will providers or do-it-yourself wills done without any legal advice.

Step 2. Do you have designated beneficiaries for assets that allow you to name individuals?

These assets are not controlled by your will and must be payable to your estate unless you specify individuals named as designated beneficiaries. These assets include your pension, life insurance, tax-free savings account and registered investment plans.

Step 3. Do you make your assets joint to avoid losses and reduce estate taxes?

There are many dangers of joint ownership. You should not transfer anything into joint ownership without independent legal advice from your own lawyer.

Book Your Discovery Meeting

Do you have questions about making your will? I have helped clients since 1978 plan their estates to protect their loved ones. I wrote the book called, Estate to the Heart: How to Plan Wills and Estates for Your Loved Ones.

I can offer you a discovery meeting to discuss your needs by Zoom or in-person in my Toronto west-end office. Arrange your no-obligation discovery meeting today to avoid making any scary estate planning mistakes.

I am a Certified Specialist in Estates and Trusts Law. I can give you expert tips to end your estate worries.