Tips on Reviewing & Protecting Your Estate in Ottawa
Review Your Will Regularly
It is important that you review your will at various stages of your life journey to make sure that it continues to reflect your wishes and that it accomplishes your estate-planning needs.
As a person’s life circumstances change, his or her testamentary needs change. Here are a few factors to consider as you decide whether it is time to review your will:
The will that young parents make when their children are small and in need of a guardian is not the same will needed when the children are grown and pursuing successful careers.
The will made in the first throes of a relationship is not the will that should govern bequests when the passion has cooled — especially if separation or divorce has ensued.
A will made before marriage will be revoked by the marriage unless it is specifically stated that it has been made in contemplation of marriage.
The executor/executrix chosen in one’s 20s may not be the same person one would choose in one’s 40s or 50s.
One’s assets may significantly increase over time. A gift of all the residue of the estate to one’s spouse or children may not be the most efficient estate-planning scenario.