Modern Estate Planning-The High Price of Not Talking

• Author: Ian M. Hull, C.S. and Suzana Popovic-Montag
• Pages: 365-383



Modern Estate Planning—The

HighPriceofNotTalking

IanMHullCS*andSuzanaPopovicMontag†

   



 

Ast hetra nsferof wealth from one generationto the next proceeds in

Canadatheinevitablegrowthinestatelitigationwillnodoubtcontinue

Infactstatist icallythet ransferofwealth inCanadais movingalongat

anextraordinaryrate

Trustedadvisorscontinueto befacedwit hclientswhocometosee

them hoping to create an estate plan that is gear ed in part to either re-

solvingf uturecon ictsor facing those conicts int heestate planning

process itself.

Therec urrentlyexi stsan excellentreg imewhereby lawyersestate

planners accountantsi nsurance agentsa ndother all iedprofessional s

worktogetherwiththeclienttocreateaplanthatmakessensebothfrom

ataxstandpointandfromthefami lydynamicsperspective

Manyoftheseexisti ngestateplansworkasthepercentageofestate

maersthatarelitigatedcontinuetobeproportionatelyrelativelysmall

Howeverwhiletheamountoflitigationonaperc entagebasismaybe

smalltwodicultiesariseinthelitigationcontextFirsteventhatsmall

 OfHullHullLLPTorontoandOakville

 OfHullHullLLPTorontoandOakville

IMHCSSPM

percentage of estate litigation that does get created on the death of t he

clientis usual lyextremely painf ulfor the familyboth nancia llya nd

emotionallySecondevenwhenyouthinkyouhaveallthe tscrossed

and the isdoed the adventof estate litigation usually occurs on a

fairlyrandombasis Inother wordsnomaerhow hardyout ryifthe

underlyingfa mily dynamics have notb een consideredt hen event he

bestlaidplansmaywellfallintotheblackholeofestatelitigation

Presumablymorethanjustgooddocumentaryplanningonthepart

ofyourclientisnowneeded

Historicallythewholeestateplanwasstructuredwithouttheinput

ofthose whoare mosta ectedby the resultnamelythe family mem-

bersItistheadditionalcomponentofthefamilydynamicsthatisasig-

nicantinstigatorofestatelitigation

Withintheconnesoftheestatelitigationarenatheprocessandthe

ghtcanbe incrediblyhar mfulto familyrelationsh ipsTheseproc eed-

ingsareoenemotionallydevastatingandna nciallyproblematic

Beforeexa mining some of the common causes of and possibleal-

ternatives to estate litigation it is helpful to consider the main estate

planning tech niques.

 

Awillisawrienstatementthatsetsouthowthetestatorwantshisher

assets tobe disposed of ondeath Aw ill createsan almost unchange -

ableestateplan whicha erdeathca nonly bevaried ifeveryone with

ananc ialinterest int heestate agreesAs aresu ltitis important that

itaccuratelydescribesthetestatorswishesAerdeatha willprovides

aframeworkfortheappointmentof anexecutorwhoisresponsiblefor

theadmin istrationoft heestateA willgives theexecutort hepowerto

dealwithassetsbelongingtothedeceaseda ndtodistributethemtothe

beneciariesselected

 

Apowerofaorneyisadocumentwhich allowsthegrantortoplanfor

situations whereshe may becomei ncapableand unable tomake deci-

sionsabout her property or health With a powerof aorneyanother

person is appointed known as the aorneya lthough that person

doesnot havetobe a lawyertomake those decisionson behalf oft he

 IanMHullAdvisingFamiliesonSuccessionPlanningTheHighPriceo fNotTalking

MarkhamONLexisNex isBuerworthsat