Dividing up an estate without surprises
Wills
Continued From Page S7
able to do so and the children
shouldn’t be upset. From a prac-
tical point of view, however, they
do feel upset.
That leads to children saying:
‘My parents must not have loved
me.’ It can create major fights
between siblings later on if you
don’t treat your children equally.”
Of course, for most parents,
family harmony is often the top
priority they’d like to result from
their will. That’s why Hagerman
says if they’re not going to allo-
cate the assets evenly and there
are valid reasons for doing so,
they need to talk to their children
and explain their rationale to try
to get them onside. “If they don’t
do it ahead of time, on the death
of the parents, the children may
have issues with one another.”
In the “you can’t win for los-
ing” category, sometimes leaving
the assets to each child equally
can also cause a rift, he says. A
child who lives near the parents
and who takes care of them in
their declining years may be
upset if their sibling receives the
same share in the will even
though they live across the coun-
try, never see their parents, take
care of them or perhaps even talk
to them.
A will, according to Dave Zim-mel, vice-president of private
enterprise at MNP in Calgary,
should be a “living and breathing
document.” What makes sense
today when parents are 65 years
old might be totally different five
or 10 years later.
“The will has to change because
there may be demands on their
resources that necessitate the will
having a different look and feel,
depending on what’s needed to
take care of mom and dad in later
years,” he says.
The unfunded liability of medical expenses grows as people get
older and that might result in an
erosion of the estate that may not
have been contemplated a few
years ago when everybody was
healthy, he says.
Knowing your family dynamics can go a long way to reducing
anguish — and potential litigation—when a will is read, Zim-mel says. Children who are
unhappy with their allotment in
a will can challenge it in court, a
process that can not only be
expensive but take years to settle.
“If your kids don’t talk, they’re
probably not going to be talking
just because they happen to go to
your funeral. You have a situation
to manage, so manage it. Then
you can rest assured your wishes
will be much easier to take care of
than saying, ‘I’ll let the will take
care of things’ and bury your
head in the sand. If your kids
fight when you’re alive, they’ll
fight after you’ve passed away.
Accommodate senior needs
Plan
Continued From Page S4
NOT READY FOR RETIREMENT
tion to this rule; they are used to
asking for and taking advice. In
some measure, that’s probably
how they got wealthy.”
The key to success for clients
reluctant to talk cash is building
trust, she added. “Give a senior a
few concepts to take away and
consider, then follow up a week
later to see if any more informa-
tion is needed. If not, try giving
the information to the senior’s
family, if appropriate.”
There are also practical con-
siderations that lawyers and
accountants need to think about
when dealing with older individ-
uals. There may be hearing or vis-
ual issues, for example. Speaking
up or providing larger print materi-
als may be helpful. “The key is to
meet their needs,” said Ages, who,
for example, will travel to meet
with clients at their residences if
they can’t easily get to her office.
Accommodating seniors’ needs
has to be done respectfully, however. It’s unwise to assume age
means incapacity in one way or
another. Otherwise it may come
across as condescending. “It’s easier for people to be a little patronizing perhaps because the person
is a little slower,” Watson said.
“People who don’t deal with seniors regularly need to remind
themselves of that.” n
Retirement is not on the radar for most Canadians, according to a study from
ING Direct. The survey, conducted for the bank by Angus Reid Public Opinion,
found that 58 per cent of Canadians do not feel financially prepared for
retirement — and they might be right. Only a third actually have a plan in
place to meet their retirement goals.
In lieu of retirement, Canadians are thinking about paying off credit card debt or lines of credit (41 per cent). For espondents with children under 18 living at home, retirement is actually at the bottom of their priority list. Topping that list is paying off the mortgage and tucking something aside for the kids’ education.
While Canadians aren’t planning for retirement, they are worrying about it. Not
having enough income to sustain a good quality of life during retirement is a
top concern for almost half of those who responded, the study found. While the
amount of income required during retirement varies from person to person, as
illustrated below.
$
$
$
$
41 per cent of those surveyed
estimated they will need between
$1,001 and $2,500 a month to live
comfortably when they retire.
For 31 per cent of
respondents, this figure was
estimated to be between
$2,501 and $5,000.
KATARZYNA ZWOLSKA | DREAMSTIME.COM
Powers of attorney
mostly ‘enduring’
Power
Continued From Page S6
clause that says ‘spend that
money and bring in additional
help’ for my lifestyle. If somebody has no kids and $3 million
in the bank, I absolutely want
that clause,” he says.
The vast majority of powers of
attorney are of the “enduring”
variety. That is, they will continue
in force notwithstanding the fact
that the client has lost their mental capacity. There are also general powers of attorney, which
cover everything you own and
your financial affairs, and specific
powers of attorney, which deal
with singular items, such as the
power to sell somebody’s home.
Another options is choosing
between “springing” and “sub-
sisting” powers of attorney.
The former is a dormant document that springs into effect upon
the occurrence of a future event,
usually incapacity. Until then,
however, it has no legal effect.
The latter, on the other hand,
is immediately in force the
moment it is signed in the law-
yer’s office.
“You could sign it and [your
attorney] could start doing your
banking for you that day. [But]
the document gets put into a
drawer and sits there until it
becomes necessary for the attor-
ney to lend assistance,” he says.
