WILL INFORMATION
by Bill Stemp

Below is a brief description on what we need for each document as well as a breakdown of the information I require to prepare the draft documents. For your reference, I have also included details on the Enduring Power of Attorney and Personal Directive should you require them as well and a breakdown of our fees at the bottom.

WILL
Do you wish to be cremated? What is your full legal name and any aliases. Full legal name, relationship, city and province of your Primary and Alternate Executor/rix and Trustee Guardian, relationship, full legal name, relationship, city and province. Full legal names of your children. At what age would your children be released the funds in trust ex: age of majority (currently 18), 21, 25…It is usually not a good idea to have someone as young as 18 years old receive their full inheritance at such a young age. This could result in the inheritance being squandered or wasted. Therefore we would suggest that you direct your executor to pay perhaps 20% when your beneficiary is 18, 25% when they turn 21, another 25% when they turn 25 and the balance when they turned 30, or something similar to this. Your executor and alternate executor should be people living in Alberta. If they are not, this can cause substantial delays and costs to be incurred.

If you want to leave any specific bequests to any person or charity we need details. For example you might want to leave 2% of your estate to the Red Cross Society, 2% to the Salvation Army etc. It is not a good idea to leave his specific amount of money to a charity or individual beneficiary because the amount of your estate may be substantially less upon your death than you thought it would be. For example if you direct that $5000 is to be given to a certain person or charity intending that they receive 5% because you have a $100,000 estate, you likely do not want that same $5000 direct bequest to be given to that charity or individual if you estate is only worth $50,000. For this reason we recommend that the person or the charity receive a percentage of your estate, not a specific dollar amount.

If you own your own home in your name it might be a good idea to have us transfer the title into your name and your spouse as joint owners. That way your home does not flow through your estate but rather is transferred to the surviving spouse. This avoids probate for your home and makes it possible to sell the home much more quickly versus having to probate an estate which includes your home.

Any life insurance policies should have a named beneficiary so that the death benefit flows directly to the named beneficiary. It is not a good idea to name your estate as the beneficiary since the death benefit would be included in your estate and the grant of probate would need to happen first before any of the life insurance proceeds could be accessed.

How you would like your estate to be distributed, with alternates Executors fee if different from the standard 2-5%
Any property not jointly owned, if so the municipal address We always recommend that you have a direct beneficiary named when it comes to your employment, banking, investments, life insurance policies as this will delay any release of funds and avoid the funds from going to probate and taking 4-6 months to be released. Should you have a Joint bank accounts with your spouse we recommend you ensure that it calls for “right of survivorship” which will prevent the account from being frozen until such time as a Grant of Probate is issued from the courts.

ENDURING POWER OF ATTORNEY (EPA)
This document is used to give another person the legal ability to manage that person’s assets if the person becomes unable to do so by reason of mental disability. This is particularly important between spouses, as a spouse has no legal ability to manage the other spouses’ assets without this document. The Enduring Power of Attorney may come into force upon disability which would require the certificate of one or two medical doctors, whichever you choose, or you may wish to have it begin immediately depending on your current situation and needs. If you do not have an enduring power of attorney and you become disabled, your spouse or other family member will need to apply to the court to be appointed as your Guardian and trustee. These types of applications are very complicated, time-consuming and can be very costly. Until such time as the Court issues the appropriate order, nothing can be done to look after your affairs. The result could be catastrophic. All of this is avoided by simply having an enduring power of attorney in place.

What is the full legal name, relationship, city and province of your Primary and Alternate Attorney. If other than your spouse (typically for the Alternate), is he/she required to provide annual accounting to anyone, if so who?

Reimbursement of expenses only or an annual fee (percentage of your estate or set amount) for the Attorney acting? Do you own any property outside of Alberta? If yes, we require details.

PERSONAL DIRECTIVE (PD)
This document gives another person the legal ability to make all of the non-financial decisions that need to be made if that individual becomes mentally incapable. The person appointed has a legal responsibility to ensure the decisions and actions that are carried out are what the person making the document would wish to happen and include residence, medical care and life support.

The person making this document may choose to allow the appointed person to make all of the decisions based on what that person believes your wishes to be, or can include a specific list of all actions you wish to be taken with respect to treatments and living arrangements.

What is the full legal name, relationship, city and province of your Primary and Alternate Agent who may be notified once this document comes in effect.

Reimbursement of expenses only or an annual fee (percentage of your estate or set amount) for the Attorney acting. These people should both be living in Alberta. This makes things much easier and convenient for your agent or alternate agent. Imagine a friend or family member having the authority to give direction to medical staff regarding life- support when the friend or family member is thousands of kilometres away.

FEE BREAKDOWN
for basic form documents:

Will $450.00
Enduring Power of Attorney $250.00
Personal Directive $250.00
Plus $35.00 administration fee plus GST
When all three documents are prepared the cost will be $850.00 plus GST.
Couples full packages $1500.00 plus admin fee plus GST.

Once we obtain the above information, we can then draft the documents for your review and approval and proceed to schedule an appointment for execution. Please let me know should you have any questions.

Please note that if you do not have an EPA, no one will be able to look after your affairs in the event that you become disabled. Also please note that the will is only effective from the date of your death. Therefore if you become disabled your family will not be able to look after your financial or personal affairs based on the will.

In other words you must have the enduring power of attorney, failing which your family or spouse will need to apply to the court to be appointed as a guardian or trustee. This can be a very expensive proposition and if you become disabled outside of Canada it can be even more complicated and expensive.

Stemp & Company
1670, 734 – 7th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3P8
Bill Stemp
403-777-1125 bill@stemp.com