Wills & Estates
The last Will and Power of Attorney are documents setting out your wishes should you become incapacitated and cannot relay these wishes personally, or in the event that you pass on.
These documents are used as a road map to ensure that your family and loved ones have a well-defined knowledge of what you wanted to do with regards to the allocation of any associations you had made during your life such as property, assets, corporate matters, the care of yourself (should you still require it), and the care of any children who are still minors. Needless to say, these are some of the most important documents you will ever have made, and having our team and experience in drafting such documents can let you rest at ease that your wishes will be understood and executed in accordance with your specific instructions.
When you create your Will and Powers of Attorney with our team, you lay out for us your exact wishes with respect to how you would like any and all possessions, assets, positions in companies, and instructions for the care of yourself and others. We then use our knowledge and experience in drafting such provisions, and lay them out for you in writing so as to avoid any ambiguity in a time when you cannot be consulted yourself as to what you meant.
Given the amount of arguments, and even litigation that can arise due to a poorly drafted Will, having professionals such as us draft this document is of monumental importance.
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At Andrew Ruzza Professional Corporation, our experienced team compiles the entire package of what you and your family will need, and takes you step-by-step through all the documentation so that your family will know exactly what to do, at a time when their world changes. The importance of drafting these documents well is monumental as they only come into use during the most difficult of times.
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We create estate plans that are tailored to your personal and financial needs. We understand the legal and tax issues, but also the emotional and complex family dynamics that are often associated with this process. Illness, incapacity and death can be difficult to discuss. We guide you with clarity and compassion – with empathy – throughout your estate planning journey.
No Will?
What happens if you die without a Will?
If you are to die without making a Will, generally, all of these items are left to your married partner as marriage under the Succession Law Reform Act puts ones spouse as the one who inherits the estate. However, issue arises when individuals have partners, but are not legally married to them, such as being in a common law relationship, or are in the process of dissolving a marriage with contemplation of another marriage, but have not finalized such a process, or have not created a new Will with updated information to reflect their current situation after a divorce.
Divorce in itself does not invalidate the conditions set out at the marriage. While parts of a Will are made invalid by a divorce, such as a gifting of some specific thing, amount, or appointment, some provisions of the Will survive in the favour of the ex-spouse. This may easily create an uncomfortable situation for many family members, and may lead to terrible divisions, and even litigation.
If one dies without being married, but has children, it is these children who inherit the right to the estate under the Succession Law Reform Act.
Both of these situations lead to issues, especially if you are the partner of someone who passes on, and their estate is now considered to be the property of someone else, or because of a lack of specific instruction, loved ones are left with dividing up the assets among themselves. In either situation, this may lead to vicious arguments and litigation which we have all seen can lead to litigation, leaving your family in a terrible state.
Ensuring that you have a Will does not guarantee that these arguments will not exist, but it does go a long way to ensuring that the consideration of how individuals will feel goes in to the planning of how you allocate for them instead of just letting them figure it out between one another.
No Power of Attorney?
The Power of Attorney for Personal Care is a document setting out who you wish to be in charge of YOU, should you become incapacitated and can no longer make these decisions for yourself.
It can be difficult to think about, but this consideration is important as this is your chance to ensure that you are taken care of in the future, in the way that you would want to be cared for. In these documents, you set out who you wish to be cared for, and contingency plans if they are not able to. You also set out any healthcare measures you wish for them to take or not take, should those decisions need to be made. This is your way of giving them a roadmap to how you want the care of yourself to proceed.
The other type of Power of Attorney is that of Property. The individual(s) that you set our to take on this responsibility is important in order to avoid many of the perils that we have already mentioned above. These individuals will be responsible to finishing up any unresolved business that you may have. They deal with any of your unpaid bills, taxes, and anything else that you would have been expected to attend to if you were still in a state to do so. They will also be the ones that are tasked with ensuring that your Will is executed in accordance with your wishes as they have been set out.