A will allows you to determine who will administer your estate upon your death and also who will share in your estate.  If you have young children, you will want to specify who will care for them in the event of your death.  Depending upon your individual circumstances, it is often possible to either avoid some tax that might be payable upon your death or defer payment into the future.  You have worked hard to accumulate your assets over your lifetime so you want to ensure that as much of your estate as possible is available to your heirs rather than tax and other government authorities.  The lawyers at Johnston Ming Manning LLP, with assistance from your tax advisors where necessary, can help you achieve your goals to ensure that your hard earned estate is distributed according to your wishes.

As we grow older, the possibility increases that we may lose the ability to make proper decisions with respect to personal matters and also with respect to matters regarding our property.  Fortunately, the law allows us to select those people who will make decisions for us if we are unable to do so.  An enduring power of attorney is a document that allows another person, known as an attorney, to look after our financial affairs, including management of our property.  The enduring power of attorney can be written to provide that the person(s) appointed may only act if we have become incapacitated or, if desired, it can be written to permit the person appointed to act from the moment that the document is signed.

A personal directive is a document in which you may specify who will make personal decisions for you if you are unable to do so.  This includes making decisions on where you can live and with whom you can visit and associate.  It also allows the person you have named, known as an agent, to consent to health care treatment and to request that medical treatment be ended in appropriate circumstances.

If you become incompetent and have not signed an enduring power of attorney or a personal directive, it will be necessary for an interested person, such as a family member, to make an application to the Court of Queen’s Bench to be appointed as your trustee (to deal with your property) and as your guardian (to make personal decisions).  This can involve significant costs as the trustee’s accounts must be presented to the Court on a regular basis, and the Court Order must be renewed from time to time.  Also, personal property information will be available for anyone to see as a matter of public record on file with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench.  It is possible that the interested party who applies to the court to be your trustee or guardian may not be the person you would have chosen to act for you.

At Johnston Ming Manning LLP we have a great deal of experience in preparing powers of attorney and personal directives.  Our goal is to ensure that your needs will be well taken care of if you become unable to look after them yourself.

At Johnston Ming Manning LLP, we understand that it is your wish that upon your death your estate be dealt with in a timely manner.  We also appreciate that your personal representative, also known as an executor (i.e. the person who you have chosen to look after your estate upon your death), may not have much experience with estate administration.  We assure you that our lawyers and support personnel have a great deal of experience and will be able to guide your personal representative through the steps necessary to complete the administration of your estate in a timely and efficient manner.

The initial obligation of your personal representative is to locate and take control of your assets.  He or she must then determine, with our assistance, who is entitled to share in your estate and in what proportion and whether there are any debts or claims against your estate that need to be paid or otherwise dealt with.  We will also determine whether or not it will be necessary to have your will submitted to the court for probate.  Probate is the term used where it is required that it be formally proved to the satisfaction of the court that a document produced and alleged to be the last will and testament of a certain deceased person is in fact the genuine last will of the deceased.  Once all the necessary information is available, we will prepare the documents that are required by the Court in order for your representative to obtain a grant of probate and continue with his or her duties in administering your estate.

Your representative will ensure (with the help of your accountant, if necessary) that any taxes that arise as a result of your death are properly dealt with.  Once all of the claims for debts and taxes have been paid, your representative (with our assistance) will account to the beneficiaries and at that time pay out the bequests that you specify in your will.

The foregoing is a brief overview of the steps involved in the administration of an estate.  Johnston Ming Manning LLP’s lawyers have the skills and experience to deal with all matters that may arise in the administration of your estate.