Our fee for an uncomplicated Last Will and Testament is
$250.00
plus taxes for a couple (married or common law);
or
$175.00
plus taxes for an
individual
Client's requiring more complicated advice or services, such as setting
up a trust, long lists of specific gifts and or beneficiaries or
requiring multiple appointments to make estate plans will
pay additional fees based on the additional time spent.
Getting Started:
You will need to:
Provide us with
your full legal name, address and any variations of your name that
might exist
on the title to any property, bank accounts or investments you might
have.
Provide us with the names(s)
of your executor(s) and alternate
executor(s), using their full legal names and place of residence. Be
sure to ask them first if they are willing to be an executor.
There can be complications where an executor is a non-resident of
Canada. For matters of practicality, an executor who resides
close to you would be best.
Advise us of any assets
located outside of Manitoba or outside of
Canada. Your Will must comply with the laws of the
jurisdiction
in
which the assets are located. Foreign property may require a
separate Will for that country.
Provide us with the full
legal name(s) and address(es) of the
guardian(s) of the persons and estates of any children you may
have.
As with your executor(s), you may list an alternate should the first
choice be unable
or unwilling to act.
It is not necessary to list
your assets in a Will, but
you
should advise us of any specific gifts you may wish to make (for
example, leaving your jewellery to a particular person).
Make a list of all
beneficiaries and alternate beneficiaries
using their full legal names and place of
residence. As it is impossible to know the size of your
future
estate, you estate is best described in shares or percentages.
If a child should predecease
you, would you want their share to
go to their children (ie your grandchildren) if any? If they
leave no offspring, would you want that share to go back into the
estate and be divided among the remaining beneficiaries?
Funeral instructions may be
included in a Will, but are not
necessary. It is more important to let your loved ones know
about
any specific directions or arrangements you may have ahead of time, as
they may not look at the Will until after the funeral.
Make a list of all
institutions holding assets in order to assist
your executor in locating the various banks, trust companies, insurance
companies, etc. that you may have assets with. This list
should
be kept with your Will.