NEXsteps: Estate Planning and Executor Support

Curtis closed his father's estate the way a careful person does. He worked from the folder his father left behind, closed every account listed in it, filed the terminal return, got the clearance certificate, and told his sister the cheques were coming. Eleven months later he learned about an account that had never been in the folder, and hadn't been at his father's bank for years.In this episode I get into where money actually goes when an account sits untouched long enough, and why almost no executor checklist in Canada tells you to go looking for it. There's a national registry. Four provinces run registries of their own for the money that never reaches the national one, and each of those provinces plays by different rules on deadlines and fees. There are two more free searches beyond that which most people have never heard of.In the article, I also cover the practical side of claiming: who's allowed to file on behalf of an estate, what documents you need, how long it takes, and a timing trap that catches executors who are still waiting on their grant. And I answer thequestion that comes up every time this subject does, which is what to do if you find the money after the estate has already been closed and distributed.Everything in this episode is free to do. All of it together takes about ten minutes.Read the full article.Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

She had the grant of probate. She had the death certificates. She had a lawyer, a binder with tabs, and every piece of paperthe process asks for.She also had a small black device her father kept in a dresser drawer, and none of it opened that.This episode is about the difference between two kinds of digital asset that almost nobody hears about until they're the one dealing with it. Some of what people own online can be reached with legal authority and enough persistence. But some of it can't be reached by anyone, ever, no matter what a court says or which jurisdiction you're in.I also get into the part that surprises families most: howthe tax bill can arrive for money the estate will never be able to touch.If you own crypto, or you've been trusted with somebodyelse's recovery phrase, this one matters more than you'd think.Read the full article.Disclaimer: This content is for general information only andis not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

A friend at church told Evelyn to put her daughter's name on the house title. When she was gone, the house would pass straight to her daughter. No court, no probate, no fuss. It took an afternoon and cost a few hundred dollars, and nobody asked whether her daughter was receiving half a house that day or simply having her name added to a piece of paper.That kind of arrangement has a legal name most people have never heard, and it can exist whether or not anyone meant to create it. The CRA reporting requirement around it was deferred three times, which is why almost nobody has looked at this since it first came up. It's back, and it's mandatory for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2026.Not every arrangement has to be reported, but the rules for which ones don't are easy to misread, especially where a house is involved. In this episode I get into what's actually going on with situations like Evelyn's, and why so many families find out too late.Read the article.Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Signing a will has always meant everybody in the same room at the same time. You, your spouse, two witnesses, and a good chunk of a weekday at a lawyer's office. For a lot of Canadians,that scheduling problem is the actual reason the will never got done.In four provinces, that requirement is now gone for good. Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia allow wills to be signed and witnessed over video on a permanent basis, with no emergency and no medical reason required. Most people assumed those pandemic measures lapsed years ago. In these four, they didn't. Quebec went adifferent direction through its notarial system, and across the rest of the country the traditional rules still apply.In this episode I get into what remote signing actually looks like, because it's more structured than it sounds. A lawyer is usually still involved. Signatures are still wet ink on paper in most cases. What changed is that nobody has to be in the same room on the same afternoon.I also get into the part that didn't change, and it's the part that keeps people stuck far longer than any calendar conflict. Who your executor is. What happens to the family cabin. Whether your RRSP beneficiary still names the person you think it does. No change in the law is going to answer those questions for you.Read the full article.Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Terrence and Yolanda moved from Calgary to a bungalow outside Halifax with their wills in a folder in the moving truck. Same estate, same wills, same executor. In Alberta the probate fee would have been $525. In Nova Scotia it's closer to $16,000.Nothing about the family had changed. The documents were current. What changed was the address.Probate isn't federal. Thirteen provinces and territories, thirteen sets of rules. Some cap the fee at a few hundred dollars no matter how large the estate gets. Others charge a percentage that climbs with every dollar.In this episode:How the capped and percentage systems work, and where each province sitsWhy Quebec runs on a different process, with a liquidator instead of an executorWhat happens when someone owns property in two provinces, and why that can mean two applicationsWhy the court fee usually isn't the biggest bill the estate facesRead the full article.Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.