Should you make your will using a cheap, online form?
How about save yourself the few bucks for the cheap form and write out a simple will on a piece of paper. My column published March 3, 2024, gives the minimal requirements of a valid will.
Either way you鈥檒l end up with a valid will. Well, only if the online form gives you the right instructions for signing and witnessing. Have my March 3rd, 2024, column handy!
If your goal is a valid will, you鈥檒l save yourself hundreds of dollars.
I鈥檓 going to 鈥渦psell鈥� you with the suggestion that you should shoot higher than mere validity when making your will.
Not for the self-interest of getting your estate planning business. I don鈥檛 want it. I get more requests for estate planning consultations than I can accommodate.
I suggest a goal to achieve a desired outcome. Getting the validity checkmark is of no value if your will won鈥檛 achieve what you want it to achieve.
I also suggest a goal of losing as little as possible to taxes and fees.
Do you have a spouse? If so, you probably want them to benefit from your shared wealth if you die before they do.
If your desired outcome is for your spouse to have complete ownership of all of your shared wealth, an estate planning lawyer will advise you about how that might can be accomplished without having any will at all. This can often be achieved by ensuring that you name your spouse as beneficiary of life insurance, RRIFs, TFSAs, etc., and that your spouse is named as joint owner/holder of your home and all other assets.
But that might not be full extent of your desired outcome. You might also want your children to end up sharing in your wealth after your spouse dies.
If you have a blended family, a lawyer will alert you to the reality that after you鈥檙e dead, your spouse鈥檚 feelings about leaving part of their estate to their stepchildren might change.
There are ways to address this which I鈥檝e written about in previous columns. But not with a cheap, online will.
There are a number of interesting issues that come up with children which cannot be addressed with a cheap, online will.
You might have a vulnerable adult child who would be incapable of handling an inheritance. Or maybe there鈥檚 a significant imbalance about how you want your estate distributed amongst your children because of different levels of need, financial help you鈥檝e already provided to one of them, care you鈥檙e receiving from a child or relationship issues.
None of these issues can be effectively handled with a cheap, online will.
Then there are contingencies.
A key function of an estate planning lawyer is to help you identify ways your life circumstances might change over time which would in turn change your wishes. And to incorporate those contingencies into your will.
Can鈥檛 you simply make a new will when your circumstances change? Not if you鈥檝e developed dementia and no longer have the cognitive capacity to do so.
I鈥檓 just scratching the surface of issues that arise in estate planning.
Then there鈥檚 the tax end of things. An estate planning lawyer will have familiarity with and alert you about important tax implications that could dramatically impact outcomes. And refer you to a trusted estate tax accountant if you might need those services.
The few hundred dollars a lawyer charges for a will, or few thousand for more complex estate planning structures, come with important legal advice and expertise that will ensure that your affairs are in order.
It is possible that a cheap, online will might be perfectly suitable for your particular life circumstances and that an estate planning consultation would turn out to be a waste of money. But you won鈥檛 know that without having had the estate planning consultation.
Reach out to me if you have any difficulty accessing the previous columns I鈥檝e referred to.
Paul Hergott
You are encouraged to contact Paul directly at paul@hlaw.ca with legal questions and issues you would like him to write about.
