Historically, I have generally been of the view that you start needing a will when you have assets or dependants. So here is the question: what, exactly, constitutes having assets? Most of us think of assets as being a house, a car, maybe some investments. However,...
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estate planning
Handling disputes after death
I was given the opportunity to guest post over at the blog for Peaceful Transition, a local burial service. Tara was gracious enough to invite me to talk about what happens with executors and beneficiaries after death, and I shared a few stories of what could happen...
What to do when a loved one dies
We have a subscription to Consumer Reports at our office. It's a really great magazine with all sorts of great tips for daily living. I was particularly pleased to see an article recently on what to do on the death of a loved one. The article goes through some really...
How to bequeath your electronic bills
Two weeks ago, I blogged about passing on your digital music files. Here's another conundrum: how do you pass on access to your online bills, banking, tax filings, and other digital "documents"? According to this article on SmartMoney, there are very few provisions...
The rabbit hole of digital ownership
My friend Sean Bawden read this article the other day and posed this question to me: what happens to your iTunes library when you die? I have written before about digital assets (here and here). Most of that information, however, is about social networking and other...
DIY
I've mentioned it a lot before: wills are complicated, and hard to do on your own. I feel rather vindicated after reading this article in Consumer Reports, where they analyzed several online will-production tools and established that, unsurprisingly, unless your needs...
Choosing your baby’s lawyer
I blogged last week on choosing a guardian for your children before the government does it for you. Here are some other things to consider in terms of estate planning once you have a child: Get advice on life insurance. Maybe you have a good policy through your...
Choose, or someone else will
We tend to go through cycles with our friends as we enter certain age ranges. Last year, I attended six weddings; this year, 11 of my friends (including two of those brides) will welcome new babies into their families. With the recent birth of one friend's son, I got...
Signing when you can’t see
I was asked a very interesting question by a client today: how do you sign a will if you are blind? There is a provision in the Succession Law Reform Act that requires the will to be in writing and signed. However, it can also be read to the client and signed at his...
The horror! The horror!
I came across this very interestingly titled article the other day. The entire article goes through a series of possibly devastating errors made in wills - both DIY jobs, and ones by lawyers who do not focus on estates law. From someone copying and pasting a name into...