A House Is More Than a Home — It’s an Estate by Rod Rattray, Certified Executor Advisor Buying a home is a landmark moment in life filled with anticipation, excitement, responsibility, and perhaps, uncertain- ty. It should also incorporate long-term estate thinking. This is true whether the home is your first or next. Between mortgages, inspections, and moving
common-law relationships the same way as the federal CRA. This gets more complicated when no Will exists. Intestacy: With the fancy word for dying without a Will, transferring home ownership in common-law relationships is even more complicated. Biological family members of the deceased take precedence. This means a deceased person’s children, parents, siblings and their children have entitlement before the surviving ‘marital’ partner. Risk Management: Life is dynamic, and nothing is guaranteed, including our health. A power of attorney authorizes someone to execute financial and medical decisions if you are unable due to incapacity, or even just away on extended vacation. This could include paying bills, managing insurance claims, or maintaining the property during an illness or accident. Perhaps disaster like fire, flood or wind damage strikes while you’re away. Without these documents, loved ones will need costly and slow court approval to act on your behalf. For home buyers, estate preparation is about protecting what you have planned for, and laboured hard to achieve. It is an expression of love and caring to take care of vital business. Preparing a will and power of attorney as part of a basic estate plan can be simple and affordable, especially compared to the higher potential cost of legal complications later. Along with the joy of your home purchase, take the caring and responsible next step to prepare your estate. Rod Rattray is a Certified Executor Advisor based in St. Tho- mas. He provides coaching to executors and drafting basic wills and power of attorney documents through his boutique practice EstateCoach.ca.
boxes, estate planning is commonly not on the mind of home buyers, especially first-timers. Owning property is often the exact moment when estate planning with a will and power of attorney becomes the most relevant and essential. A Will provides your instructions about what happens to your assets when you pass away. A Power of Attorney is your authorization for a trusted person to manage your affairs if you are unavailable or unable due to incapacity. A house is usually the largest asset a person owns, and without clear instructions, it can become a source of stress, conflict, and legal expense for loved ones left behind. Here are three essentials to contemplate in your estate preparation. Title Registration: Property registered as joint tenants with survivorship means property ownership automatically passes to the surviving spouse. Registration as tenants-in-common means the property is split, and ownership does not pass automatically. It must be done through a will. This is extra important for common-law partners because the Ontario Estate Act and Succession Law Reform Act do not recognize
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