It’s About Time: When to Review Your Will and Estate Plan

Living our daily lives, we are not constantly thinking about our wills and our estate plans. There are usually certain events which bring these subjects top of mind.

There are certain events or times in our lives that should make you look at your estate plan once more to make sure that it is still reflective of your wishes given your changing circumstances. I always recommend that clients review their estate plan if any of the following occur: (1) the birth or death of a family member, (2) a marriage or a divorce of yourself or a close family member, (3) an intra-provincial move, and (4) a significant change in your assets or resources, including incorporating or dissolving a business.

When it comes to a birth or death of a family member, your will might already account for these circumstances. A will might leave open the possibility of additional grandchildren, for example, by not identifying them specially by name but rather naming them as a class, such as “my grandchildren”. A will might also account for the unfortunate circumstances of what if one of your main beneficiaries should predecease you. Nonetheless, it is worth trotting out the document to double check that the birth or death of a loved on does not change the careful plan you had previously put together.

Similarly, when there is a marriage or divorce in the family, that can change the plan you may have decided on earlier. For example, often guardians of minor children are named as a couple. If that couple is no longer happily married, would that affect your choice of guardian for your children?

Interestingly, the laws of succession and estates are provincial and so can change, sometimes significantly, from province to province. If you make a move to a new Canadian province, it is worth speaking with an estate professional about if these provincial differences should change the plan you had put in place based on different laws and rules of your previous home province.

Finally, a will is usually drafted quite generally so that a small change in assets should not affect your will, but if there have been major changes to your estate assets, a review of your will may be beneficial. For example, if you incorporate or dissolve a business, you may be able to take advantage of multiple wills in Ontario to minimize the probate fees your estate will pay. Alternatively, you may have been comfortable with your 22-year-old child receiving their inheritance outright in one payment when it was estimated to be around $100,000 but if you suddenly find your estate quite a bit larger, you may want to reconsider the use of a trust if your child is set to inherit one million dollars instead of one hundred thousand dollars.

It is important to have a will, no doubt but it is just as important to have an up-to-date will that reflects your current family and financial circumstances. To that end, pull out your will every few years to review it. This is especially important if you experience any of the circumstances described above.

Emily Racine, BA, MA, LL.B., TEP | Estate and Trust Consultant