The holiday season is often filled with visiting family, friends and relaxation.  It can be that rare moment in the year where our fast-paced lives are put on hold, allowing for an opportunity to regroup and tackle important tasks we’ve been postponing throughout the year.

Much like you would schedule a holiday party in your calendar, why not set aside some time to do an overview of your estate planning?

I once worked on an estate administration file where the deceased had named a lawyer at the firm to be the executor of her estate.  We didn’t have much information about her affairs as she was not a regular client.  She had chosen us as she didn’t really have a connection with her extended family.  When I first walked into her apartment to look for important documents, I found a binder that was addressed to her executor.  Inside, she had included copies of her current wills, copies of current financial statements, a list of family members, a copy of her insurance policy, her vehicle registration, and all the relevant information that we would need to begin administering her estate.

Over the years I have thought about that binder and wondered, wouldn’t that be great if all our clients had the same information prepared?  Here are some ideas on what you can put into your own “Executor Binder”.  This is not a complete list of what you should include, rather, it is meant to help you consider what to include:

1. Personal and Family Information – include information about yourself (copies of birth certificates, marriage licences, divorce orders, a direction as to where to find all of your ID), information about your spouse (copies of his or her birth certificate) and information about your children (dates of birth, addresses, contact details, birth certificates, adoption orders). It might be helpful to include a list of all doctors and specialists that you see regularly so, when the time comes, those individuals can be contacted.
2. Financial Information – gather copies of recent account statements, including chequing, savings, retirement, and non-registered accounts, and any recent insurance policy statements. If those are not readily available, perhaps you might consider preparing a list of this information that contains account numbers, branch contact details, investment advisor contact details, and insurance policy information (include the name of any insurance advisor and the policy numbers).
3. Real Estate and Ownership Documents – for real estate, gather copies of any deeds, mortgage(s), copies of homeowner insurance and other related documents,. For other assets (i.e. vehicles/boats/trailers) gather copies of your ownerships.
4. Existing Estate Planning Documents – include a copy of your most recent Will and Powers of Attorney. If you have a trust, a copy of the trust agreement.
5. List of ongoing expenses – if you are the individual that is responsible for making all of the monthly bill payments, it might be good idea to prepare a schedule of your reoccurring bills. Your spouse may know about bills but have no clue where the payments are made from and when.  For example, I have created a chart that sets out the payee details, the approximate amount of payment, the date of scheduled payment and the bank account to which the payment comes out of and review this periodically to ensure that it is up to date.

It would be helpful to create a list that sets out the various account numbers associated with the ongoing expenses and include whose name the account is in.

6. Digital Asset Information – prepare a listing of email and social media accounts, passwords and instructions regarding these.
7. Unique Assets – if you have any unique assets, like art collections, gun collections, stamp collections, provide as much details or information as possible about these assets. If you have copies of the purchase invoices or appraisals, those will be helpful.
8. Funeral Directions – if you have specific organ donation preferences include this information. if you have any specific funeral instructions, have pre-paid your funeral and/or have a plot, ensure that this information is included.

Once this has been prepared, it would be prudent to keep it in a secure location (a locked filing cabinet or an in-home safe) where your executor or family know where to access it when needed. you likely wish to avoid storing the binder in a safety deposit box as often times, a grant of probate will be required to access the safety deposit box.

With the holidays offering a slower pace, why not make it a New Year’s resolution to set time to get your estate affairs in order.

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season and prosperous new year.