1.    DON’T put property in joint names with your child:

a.         You lose control.

b.         You lose your “principal residence” homeowner’s grant.

c.         You will owe income tax.

d.         Your child will owe income tax.

e.         There is property transfer tax when your child sells it.

f.          The property is liable to creditors.

g.         The child might die.

h.         The child might remarry (or live Common Law).

i.          There may be a resulting trust back to you – complicated!

2.         If you leave the property to your child by Will, the child will have to pay Probate Fees on the value of the property.  A $700,000 house will cost $9,250 in probate fees.  The same house will cost your kids $2,048 each year in property tax.  And another $12,000 in property transfer tax.

3.         DO:

a.         Prepare a Will.

b.         Use a lawyer – not a Notary.  Lawyers have legal training. Notaries don’t.

c.         Think about what your Will would mean if you died the minute you signed it. 

d.         Think about what your Will would mean if you don’t die for many years:

                             i.             New marriages;

                            ii.             New divorces;

                           iii.             New children / grandchildren.

e.         Update all financial documents and put copies with the Will.

f.          Check beneficiaries on insurance, RRSP’s, pensions, etc.  Be sure these make sense – and don’t say “to my estate”.

g.         Give a copy of your Will to your Executor.

h.         Put the original in a safe deposit box.  Never store it at your home.

4.         Don’t pick the cheapest lawyer.  They’re cheap because they’re worth it.

5.         DON’T DELAY – Death doesn’t make an appointment