Good planning can make it easier for the people you trust to manage your affairs during incapacity and administer your estate after your death.
We help clients prepare practical plans for their property, finances, health-care decisions, families and businesses. We also advise executors, administrators, trustees and beneficiaries throughout the estate-administration process. For people with mobility issues, we can travel to your location to discuss and finalize legacy plans.
Wills and Estate Planning
A will identifies who will administer your estate, who should receive your property and how particular responsibilities should be handled. Without a valid will, British Columbia legislation determines who may administer the estate and how estate property is distributed.
We assist clients with:
- Simple and complex wills
- Selection of executors, trustees and guardians
- Specific gifts and charitable gifts
- Trusts for children and other beneficiaries
- Planning for blended families
- Planning for beneficiaries with disabilities or other particular needs
- Business and corporate succession
- Treatment of jointly owned property
- Beneficiary designations
- Digital assets and personal effects
- Funeral and burial wishes
A useful estate plan must reflect the client’s family circumstances, assets, obligations and objectives. We explain the available options and prepare documents intended to work together as a coherent plan.
Powers of Attorney and Incapacity Planning
Estate planning should address what happens during incapacity as well as after death.
An enduring power of attorney allows a trusted person to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf. A representation agreement can authorize someone to make personal-care and health-care decisions. An advance directive can provide instructions concerning particular health-care treatments.
We prepare and advise on:
- Enduring powers of attorney
- Representation agreements
- Advance directives
- Appointment of alternate decision-makers
- Restrictions and safeguards on the authority being granted
- Revocation and replacement of existing planning documents
These documents serve different purposes. We help clients determine which documents are appropriate and ensure that the appointments and instructions are consistent with the rest of their planning.
Trusts, Corporations and Succession Planning
Some clients require planning beyond a conventional will.
We work with clients and their accountants or tax advisers on matters involving:
- Family and testamentary trusts
- Holding companies
- Corporate reorganizations
- Estate freezes
- Business succession
- Intergenerational transfers
- Planning for significant or complex assets
Tax consequences can materially affect an estate plan. Where specialized tax advice is required, we coordinate with the client’s accountant or tax adviser so the legal documents implement the intended plan.
Probate and Estate Administration
Administering an estate can involve substantial legal, financial and practical responsibilities. Executors and administrators must identify and protect estate assets, address debts and taxes, communicate with beneficiaries and distribute the estate properly.
We assist with:
- Determining whether a representation grant is required
- Applications for probate
- Applications for administration where there is no will
- Applications where the named executor cannot or will not act
- Identifying beneficiaries and providing required notices
- Estate inventories and valuations
- Collection, transfer and sale of estate assets
- Payment of debts and expenses
- Transmission and transfer of real property
- Coordination with accountants concerning tax returns and clearance certificates
- Interim and final distributions
- Executor’s accounts and compensation
- Releases and approvals from beneficiaries
- Applications to pass estate accounts
Some estates can be administered relatively simply. Others involve businesses, real property, trusts, competing claims, family conflict or questions about the validity or interpretation of a will. We tailor our involvement to the needs of the estate and the personal representative.
Advice for Executors and Administrators
Executors and administrators have legal duties to the estate and its beneficiaries. In some circumstances, distributing assets prematurely or failing to address a valid debt can result in personal liability.
We help personal representatives understand:
- The scope of their authority
- Their duties to protect and manage estate property
- Notice and disclosure obligations
- The treatment of debts and competing claims
- When property may safely be distributed
- Record-keeping and estate accounting requirements
- Entitlement to reimbursement and compensation
- When court directions or approval may be appropriate
We can provide advice on particular issues or assist with the administration from the initial searches through final distribution.
Advice for Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries are entitled to appropriate information about an estate and to have the estate administered in accordance with the will and applicable law.
We advise beneficiaries concerning:
- The interpretation of wills and trusts
- Information and estate accounts
- Delays in administration
- Executor conduct and compensation
- Proposed interim and final distributions
- Releases and indemnities
- Concerns about missing or mismanaged assets
- Potential challenges or claims involving the estate
Not every concern requires litigation. Early advice can clarify what information should be requested and whether the administration is proceeding appropriately.
Estate Disputes
Disputes may arise concerning the validity or interpretation of a will, the conduct of an executor or trustee, the division of estate property or whether adequate provision was made for a spouse or child.
Our estate-dispute work includes:
- Challenges based on capacity or undue influence
- Disputes concerning the execution or validity of a will
- Wills-variation claims
- Interpretation and rectification of wills
- Removal or replacement of executors and trustees
- Executor and trustee compensation
- Estate-accounting disputes
- Claims involving jointly held property or beneficiary designations
- Trust and inheritance disputes
- Preservation and recovery of estate assets
Limitation periods and notice requirements may apply. A person concerned about an estate should obtain advice before assets are distributed or important deadlines expire.
Reviewing an Existing Estate Plan
Estate-planning documents should be reviewed after significant changes, including:
- Marriage, separation or divorce
- The birth or adoption of a child
- A death or incapacity in the family
- A substantial change in assets or debts
- The purchase or sale of a business
- A change in corporate ownership
- A move between provinces or countries
- A breakdown in the relationship with an appointed executor, attorney or representative
Even where circumstances have not changed substantially, periodic review can identify outdated appointments, inconsistent beneficiary designations and other problems before they become difficult to correct.
Speak With a Legacy and Estate Lawyer
Whether you are preparing your own plan or administering the estate of someone who has died, clear advice can help you understand the available options and avoid preventable problems.
Contact Columbia Valley Law Corporation to speak with a legacy and estate lawyer in Invermere or Golden.