1.What is a will?
A will is a written legal document prepared following the requirements of the Wills Act whereby you provide written instruction with respect to the distribution of your property on and after death. The will must be in writing and must be signed by you in the presence of two adult witnesses. The witness can not be a person who is named as an executor or beneficiary in the will.

2.What happens if I die without a will (intestate)?
If you die without a will, your estate will be administered and distributed in accordance with the provisions of the Estate Administration Act. That Act provides a formula for the division of your estate between your spouse and surviving children. If you have no spouse or surviving children, your estate is distributed among your surviving living relatives, by degrees of relationship. If you die leaving infant children, the "Public Guardian and Trustee" will be involved with the administration of the portion of your estate that goes to them. When you die without a will, you are said to have died intestate.

3.What are the advantages of having a will?
If you have a will ( testate), you are ensuring that your estate is being distributed to the persons that you want to receive your estate, not in accordance with a formula found in a statute. You also have the opportunity to name that person or company that you wish to act as executor of your estate, someone that you trust to make sure that your wishes are carried out to the letter. If you die without a will, the court appoints a person to act as administrator of your estate. The cost of administering an estate is usually significantly higher when there is no will. Often there are court applications involved, disputes between relatives over certain assets all of which translates into additional cost. By having a will, you have the opportunity to avoid those disputes. The cost of a will is relatively modest; a standard "husband and wife will" costs approximately $295.00; a very small investment for the advantages gained.

4.Are there some assets in my estate that would not be distributed through my will?
There are a number of assets that would normally pass outside of the estate. For example, if your residence is held jointly with your spouse, that asset will not be included in your estate, but will go directly to your surviving spouse. Similarly, if you have an RRSP and you have designated your spouse as the beneficiary of the RRSP, it will pass to the spouse directly. The same applies to life insurance policies where you've designated a beneficiary and other jointly held assets.

5.Can I leave nothing to one or more of my children? What about my spouse?
There are occasions when a testator may wish to exclude one or more of his or her children from sharing in the estate. This must be approached with caution and legal advice should be obtained. Generally, the Wills Variation Act of B.C. requires that you give consideration to the circumstances in life of your children and provide for them in your will. If you exclude a child, you must have a very good reason to do so and you should bear in mind that your child has the right, within 6 months of your will being probated, to make a court application to seek to be included in your estate. That application is essentially a request by your excluded child to have the court rewrite your will. The same issues apply to the exclusion of a spouse from a will; a surviving spouse also has rights to make a claim against the estate if they do not feel that the exclusion was "fair". We strongly encourage you to seek legal advice if you are contemplating an exclusion of a spouse or child from your will.

6.Do I need to appoint a member of my family as executor of my estate?
No; you can appoint anyone that you choose as executor of your estate bearing in mind that your executor must be of the age of majority, ideally should be someone that is younger than you(or otherwise likely to survive you) and be an individual that you trust implicitly to manage your affairs when you are gone. Most testators do appoint a member of their family to act as their executor; however, there are often family reasons for not doing this. In that case, at McConnan Bion O'Connor & Peterson, we encourage our clients to seek out other trusted friends who are prepared to act as executor, or the client may appoint a lawyer at McConnan Bion O'Connor & Peterson to carry out this responsibility. Sometimes there are advantages to appointing someone neutral and uninvolved in family issues. Either way, the job of executor is an important one and is an appointment you should make after very careful consideration.

7.I have infant children, what do I do about their care if something happens to myself and my spouse?
At McConnan Bion O'Connor & Peterson, when we prepare a will for a husband and wife who have minor children, we recommend that in the will a guardian or guardians are appointed for those children. The guardian may be somebody different than the executor (they often are), and the guardian is given legal responsibility for caring for the child in the place of the parents. Guardians are generally members of the family (ie: a brother or sister of one of the deceased spouses or some other trusted relative). Where there are no relatives available, then a close friend may be appointed. The will contains an instruction to the executor to ensure that sufficient income from the estate (or capital, if required) is made available to the guardian to ensure the children are properly supported, maintained, educated, and so forth. Guardians are accountable both to the executor of the estate for the care of the children, and to the Public Guardian and Trustee of the Province of B.C. with respect to the management of assets of the children that come into their possession.

Obviously, the selection of a guardian for your infant children is the most important decision you will make in your will and we encourage our clients to be most careful in making this decision.

8.What about all of my personal effects - my "treasures"?
You can leave a memorandum to your executor advising how you want your personal effects distributed. This can be updated regularly by you once it is referenced in the will. It saves your executor a lot of hassle.