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You’ve lived together for years. You share a home, the bills, maybe the grandkids. Everyone thinks of you as married. So if one of you died tomorrow without a will, the other one would be looked after. Right? A lot of couples believe that. The answer isn’t the same across Canada, and for some couples it’s a hard one to hear. This week, I talk about what being common-law really means when one partner dies, why it comes down to more than how many years you’ve been together, and what you can do now so your partner isn’t left to sort it out alone. If you’re living common-law, or you have a parent, a sibling or a friend who is, please have a listen and pass it along. Getting ready to make your will? The Will Blueprint™ helps you work through your decisions before you meet with your lawyer: https://agapimarketing.com/the-will-blueprint/ Read the full article: https://nexsteps.ca/estate-planning/common-law-no-will/More at https://nexsteps.ca/ Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

What happens to your estate if you and your spouse both die in the same accident? Most couples have never been asked, and most wills don't say. This week's episode and article look at what can happen when both spouses die close together, and why a few days between two deaths can change who inherits, how long the family waits, and how much work falls to the person settling things. I also address why this matters for blended families and couples without children, and why the rules depend on where you live in Canada. If your will leaves everything to your spouse, the article will give you one question to take to your lawyer or notary. Getting ready to write or update your will? The Will Blueprint™: https://agapimarketing.com/the-will-blueprint/ Read the full article: https://nexsteps.ca/estate-planning/both-spouses-die/ More at https://nexsteps.ca/ Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Can you apply for probate without a lawyer? Depending on where the deceased person lived, and where you live, you might be able to. But filing the application is only one piece of an executor’s job. In this week's article and episode, I talk about how far different parts of Canada have gone with online and email probate filing, including Alberta’s online service for people applying on their own, Ontario’s email filing and small estate process, and the way Quebec handles wills made before a notary. I also get into what a probate application actually asks the court for, what you’ll need to figure out before you apply, and what’s still ahead once the court says yes. If you’ve been named executor, or you’re wondering whether you can handle probate yourself, this episode will help you see the whole job before you start. Executor’s Compass™ Suite helps you work through every phase of estate administration, with jurisdiction-specific terminology and context throughout: https://agapimarketing.com/executors-compass-suite/ Read the full article: https://nexsteps.ca/executor-and-estate-administration/probate-online/ More at https://nexsteps.ca/ Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

When parents divide their estate equally between their children, it usually feels like the fairest decision they’ll make. But if one of those children receives provincial disability benefits, an equal share left to them directly can put their monthly benefit and their health coverage at risk. In this week's episode, I talk about why that happens and how parents and grandparents can leave a child on disability benefits the same share as their siblings without putting that support at risk. If you’ve heard the term Henson trust and wondered whether it applies to your family, this is a good place to start. I also talk about a decision many families make without a second thought, and why it may matter more than anything else in the plan. Because every province and territory runs its own disability program with its own rules, I share the questions worth asking a lawyer wherever your child lives. Read the full article: https://nexsteps.ca/estate-planning/henson-trust/ Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Who would handle your parents' finances if they couldn't? Who would make their healthcare decisions? Most families know they should ask. Many don't, until a crisis makes the decision for them. Holidays, family dinners and quiet visits are some of the best chances we get to talk about a power of attorney and a personal or healthcare directive. Most of us still don't bring it up. Nobody wants to spoil a nice visit, so it gets left for next time. In this episode and article, I talk about the conversation so many adult children keep putting off, and why it's worth having while everyone's still well. Whether you're watching a parent age, or you're a parent who'd rather make these decisions yourself, this episode is for you. Read the full article. Helpful tools:Who Speaks for You?™: https://agapimarketing.com/who-speaks-for-you/Your Voice Your Care™: https://agapimarketing.com/your-voice-your-care/In Good Hands™: https://agapimarketing.com/in-good-hands/ Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

You named your daughter as executor. She's organized, she's fair, and her brothers trust her completely. She's also lived in Phoenix for eleven years, and nobody thought to ask what that would mean.  In this week's episode I look at what happens when the person named to settle an estate lives somewhere other than where the estate will be settled: What a Canadian court asks of them before they can act. Where the line gets drawn, province by province and territory by territory, and why it isn't drawn in the same place everywhere. How Quebec approaches the same question under the Civil Code. And the tax question sitting underneath it all, which is where the estate itself is considered to be managed once the person making the decisions is making them from another country. None of this means you can't name the person you trust most. It means you should name them knowing what you're handing them. The article closes with the options that are actually open to you, and the conversation worth having before anything gets signed. Read the full article.  Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Three months into settling her mother's estate, Alison sat looking at a line on her own checklist that said "CPP death benefit," and couldn't tell whether she'd done it or not. She had every reason to think it was handled. The funeral home had taken care of so much in those first days that she'd stopped tracking which agencies still needed something from her. In this episode I'm covering what changed with the CPP death benefit on January 1, 2025, and why the new maximum reaches far fewer estates than the headlines suggest. Two people in the same family, with nearly the same work history, can leave estates that receive very different amounts, and the reason has nothing to do with how much either of them paid in. I also get into the 60 day rule. Nearly everything written about this calls it a deadline for claiming the money, and that isn't what the legislation says. The difference matters a great deal if you're already past it. And in the article I talk about the piece of paperwork families assume the funeral home filed, where Quebec's rules go their own way, and why $5,000 is never really $5,000 by the time it reaches anybody. All is in the full article. Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

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 faces Read the full article. Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Before anyone builds you an investment portfolio, they find out what you're willing to put up with, what you could actually survive, and whether both of those match what you say you want. Nobody skips it. Then the conversation gets to your estate and it comes down to two questions about a will and a power of attorney. This episode takes that framework and points it at estates instead. The problem shows up right away. A risk tolerance assessment only works because the person answering the questions is the person who has to live through the answer. Estate planning pulls that apart. You answer. Your executor, your spouse and your kids get the consequences, and they inherit a position you picked for them without ever being asked. This week, I take you through the three things worth measuring, including estate capacity, which isn't the same as mental capacity and gets confused with it constantly. Read the full article. Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Most people who agree to be an executor picture a few months of paperwork. What they actually get is closer to a part-time job that can run a year or two, with long stretches where the only thing to do is wait. In this episode, I walk through what a realistic executor timeline looks like in Canada: getting through probate, filing the final tax return, and the CRA clearance certificate that has to arrive before an estate can legally close. I'll cover the milestones you should expect, the waiting periods that are easy to miss, and the most common reasons estates end up taking far longer than anyone was told to expect going in. If you've been named executor, or you're trying to decide whether to accept the role, this episode will give you a much more accurate picture of what's ahead. You'll find my full executor resource suite, including Executor's Compass™ and Before You Say Yes™, at nexsteps.ca/tools/. Read the article. Disclaimer:This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.

Everyone knows the list of estate planning steps by now. Will, power of attorney, personal directive, beneficiary review, telling your family where things are. CTV covered it recently, and it struck a nerve, because most of us recognize ourselves somewhere in that list. Today I'm going through the practical side: what each step actually takes and where people get stuck trying to start. I cover the will, the powers of attorney, the tax bill most people don't see coming, and the conversation with your family. But the one I spend the most time on is the step most people assume is complicated when it's genuinely the fastest one on the list, and it's usually the most out of date. If this makes you feel like you're behind, this episode gives you the one step you can actually finish today. Read the full article. #EstatePlanning #NEXsteps #EstatePlanningCanada #WillsAndEstates Disclaimer: This content is for general information only and is not legal, financial, medical, or tax advice.