Are your client’s property documents in line with the new legal changes?
Many advisors assume that attorneys oversee this, but they recommend that advisors discuss the legal implications with their clients to make sure everything – wills, joint accounts and RRSPs, tax-free savings accounts, and insurance Changes that are current and legal – including policies and beneficiaries – will not affect advisors’ recommendations.
“Clients should look at their data every three to five years,” Van Cowenburg said, noting that many people don’t check their will for ten to 20 years, and then wonder if they’re out of date. How old are they. Named parents or friends as executors, and they either died or moved on.” If you don’t make any changes to your marital or life status, you don’t make the point can see. But it’s amazing how much can change in a relatively short amount of time.”
“Finally, the lion’s share of assets is not actually distributed according to their will, it is distributed in the manner created by the financial planner,” she said. “Therefore, it is up to the financial planner to take up this issue from time to time to ensure that they have looked at all the different parts of the client’s plan and that everything is still operational.
In Ontario, the new law means that marriage no longer voids all previous wills, as it did before.
“It is related to a concept referred to as ‘hunter marriage,'” said van Cowenburg, which had already changed in Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta. “People were marrying elders who were in very weak condition and when they passed away, their previous will was nullified, so those people inherited.
