Practice area
Estate planning in Ontario
We map how your assets would actually transfer, quantify what probate and tax would take, and make sure there is money available on the day it is needed. Your lawyer drafts the documents. We make the numbers work.
What we look at
Most estate problems are not caused by a bad will. They are caused by a gap between what the documents say and how the assets are actually titled — and nobody checks the second one.
How each asset transfers
Every asset you own moves by one of four routes: through your will, by right of survivorship, by beneficiary designation, or through a trust. We go through them one at a time and write down which route applies. It is unglamorous and it is where the surprises turn up — a designation naming a former spouse, a joint account added for convenience that now overrides the will, a business interest with no plan attached.
What the transfer costs
Two separate bills, commonly confused. Estate Administration Tax applies to the value of the probated estate at $15 per $1,000 above $50,000. Income tax on the terminal return applies to the deemed disposition of capital property and to registered plans taken into income. The second is usually much larger. Both are estimated in the calculators.
Whether the money will be there
The terminal return comes due long before a cottage, a rental property, or a private company can be sold on sensible terms. When there is no liquidity, the family sells in a hurry and takes less. Insurance is one way to close that gap; it is not the only one, and we will say so when something else fits better.
Ontario specifics worth knowing
What happens if there is no will?
The Succession Law Reform Act sets a fixed distribution. A married spouse receives a preferential share, with the balance divided with children on a formula. A common-law partner does not receive the automatic intestate share given to a married spouse. Joint ownership, beneficiary designations, trusts and a possible dependant's support claim can affect the result, so the facts require legal advice. The court also appoints the estate trustee, which may not be who you would have named.
Does getting married cancel my existing will?
Not any more. Ontario changed this on 1 January 2022 — marriage no longer revokes a will. Which cuts both ways: an old will naming someone else stays in force until you replace it. Separation and divorce have their own rules and their own traps, and both are worth raising with your lawyer promptly.
What is a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee?
It is what Ontario calls the grant of probate. The Superior Court of Justice confirms the will's validity and the trustee's authority. Estate Administration Tax is paid as a deposit on application, and an Estate Information Return must be filed with the Ministry of Finance within 180 days of the certificate being issued.
Do I need both powers of attorney?
Ontario has two separate documents: a Power of Attorney for Property and a Power of Attorney for Personal Care. One does not cover the other. Without them, an application to court for guardianship is the only route, and it is slow, public and expensive at the worst possible moment.
Who else should be involved?
A lawyer to draft the legal documents, and an accountant where the plan involves a business, a corporation, complex tax issues, or property outside Canada. We are not a substitute for either professional.
Start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes, no charge, no product pitch. Bring whatever you have — a will, a policy, a shoebox of paper, or nothing at all. You will leave knowing what is missing and what it takes to fix.
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