Wills and estate planning in Mississauga
Estate planning is the whole picture before any single document: what you own, who depends on it, and what actually happens to it now. The will is one part, a lawyer draws it, and the rest is the work of making sure it can be carried out without your family selling something to do it.
- 01The picture first
- 02
- 03
- 04
What happens, in the order it happens
- 01
The picture first
Property, registered accounts, policies, business interests and debts, written down in one place, with who is currently named on each. Most plans start by finding out that answer is not what anyone assumed.
- 02
The gaps, priced
Where the estate would fall short: probate cost, tax on registered accounts, a family home nobody can afford to keep. Shown as numbers, before any discussion of what to do about them.
- 03
Coordinated with your lawyer
He is not a lawyer and does not draft documents. The plan is built so a lawyer can draw the will and powers of attorney against it, and so the two agree.
- 04
Reviewed as life changes
A plan written before a marriage, a birth, a separation, a property purchase or a business sale is usually wrong afterwards. It gets revisited, not filed.
Who this is usually for
- Families with children, a home, and no written plan
- Blended families, where the default rules rarely match the intention
- Newcomers with assets or family in more than one country
- Anyone who has been told to "see someone" and has not known who
Questions that come up before the first meeting
Do I need a lawyer as well?
Yes, for the will and the powers of attorney themselves. Ehsan Khandaker is a licensed financial and estate planner, CLU and CHS. He is not a lawyer and does not draft documents. The planning is the picture around them: the coverage, the beneficiary designations, the tax and the liquidity to actually settle the estate.
What happens if I do nothing?
Under Ontario's intestacy rules the province decides. A married spouse receives the first $350,000 of the estate, the preferential share for deaths on or after 1 March 2021, and the remainder is divided with the children. A common-law partner has no automatic entitlement at all, however long you have been together.
How long does it take?
The first conversation is twenty minutes. A written plan follows that, and then a review meeting to go through it line by line, with your lawyer or accountant present if you want them there.
Ehsan Khandaker is a licensed financial and estate planner, CLU and CHS. He is not a lawyer and does not draft documents. This page is general information about Ontario rules, not guidance about your own situation, and a will is drawn up by a lawyer.
Bring what you have. A list on the back of an envelope is a fine place to start.