You are more experienced now, your bank account is larger, and it is easier to think further ahead.
On December 1st, 2011 I went to a breakfast meeting and had the privilege to hear Barry Corbin speak. Barry is an expert in estates and trusts law and he spoke about the issue of probate and what the recent passing of Bill 173 means to the people of Ontario.
When one dies, there is a process referred to as Probation of a Will. This is the situation whereby a person’s Will is recognized as valid. The government of Ontario assesses an Estate Administration Tax (EAT) better known as Probate Fees. The EAT is $5/$1,000 on the first $50,000 of your estate and $15/$1,000 thereafter without any limit to the fee. In other words, the EAT is 1.5% of your estate value. This may not seem like much, but legal and accounting fees in one’s estate are often tied to the value of the estate that is subject to the EAT.
The fee and corresponding legal and accounting fees should be enough to motivate you to make sure that your affairs are in order. If that is not enough, the passing of Bill 173 should now make it one of your top priorities to avoid the EAT as much as possible.
Bill 173 gives the right to the Minister of Revenue to assess or reassess for EAT liability if the declared values of an estate are disputed. Further, the time frame has now been extended to four years from the date the certificate of appointment of estate trustee is issued.
What does this mean in layperson’s terms? When you die and your Will is probated, your executor(s) will be required to carefully assess the values of the assets that make up your estate and report that to the Minister and pay the corresponding EAT. Further, most executors should be reluctant to disperse of any assets until the four year period has passed. This means that if you do not do some proper planning, your assets will be held up for four years.
There are many solutions that are available to people to minimize, if not eliminate, the requirement to hold up their estate for that length of time. If you are interested, and I think you should be, drop me an email or give me a call and we can arrange a time to meet and discuss this together.
You are more experienced now, your bank account is larger, and it is easier to think further ahead.
Without barely a moment’s thought, you would protect your family from an immediate threat.
Do you ever feel like life is too automated? Maybe you’re suspicious of the cruise control feature on your car.
You have worked all your life and saved for retirement. What other planning work could possibly be left?
