Episode 215: Your Will Isn’t Enough: The Overlooked Gaps Putting Your Wealth at Risk

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Are you certain your family and your business would stay protected if something happened to you tomorrow?

Most business owners assume a simple will is enough—until a crisis exposes gaps they never saw coming. In this episode, estate and legacy expert David Edey breaks down why so many Canadian families end up in years-long legal battles, even when wills exist. He shares the real-world consequences of avoiding tough conversations, overlooking succession planning, or assuming loved ones can “figure it out.” If you’ve ever wondered whether your executor is prepared, whether your business could run without you, or whether your family is set up for clarity instead of conflict, this conversation will hit home.

You’ll walk away knowing:

• Why wills fail—and the conversations every family must have to avoid messy court fights and broken relationships.
• How to safeguard your business through succession plans, executor preparation, and simple mechanisms that prevent partners from being forced into unwanted arrangements.
• The practical tools—like red-envelope systems, digital-asset planning, and legacy blueprints—that make this the greatest gift of love you can leave behind.
  

Press play now to learn how to protect your family, your wealth, and your business with confidence and clarity.

Resources:

• Ready to take a deep dive and learn how to generate personal tax free cash flow from your corporation? Enroll in our FREE masterclass here. 
• Book a Discovery Call with Kyle to review your corporate (or personal) wealth strategy to help you overcome your current struggle and take the next step in your Canadian Wealth Building Journey!
• Discover which phase of wealth creation you are in. Take our quick assessment and you’ll receive a custom wealth-building pathway that matches your phase and learn our CRA compliant tax optimized strategies. Take that assessment here.
• Dig into our Ultimate Investment Book List
• Follow/Connect with us on social media for daily posts and conversations about business, finance, and investment on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook [Kyle’s Profile, Our Business Page], TikTok and TwitterX. 
  

Calling All Canadian Incorporated Business Owners & Investors:

Consider reaching out to Kyle if you’ve been…

• …taking a salary with a goal of stuffing RRSPs;
• …investing inside your corporation without a passive income tax minimization strategy;
• …letting a large sum of liquid assets sit in low interest earning savings accounts;
• …investing corporate dollars into GICs, dividend stocks/funds, or other investments attracting cordporate passive income taxes at greater than 50%; or,
• …wondering whether your current corporate wealth management strategy is optimal for your specific situation.

A strong Canadian wealth plan goes far beyond investing—it starts with clear wills, thoughtful estate planning, and honest family conversations that prevent inheritance disputes, family fights, and costly court cases. By preparing your executor early and reducing the risk of estate conflicts, you create space to focus on financial freedom in Canada, whether through early retirement strategies, modest-lifestyle wealth building, or real estate investing in Canada. Entrepreneurs can benefit from corporate wealth planning, salary vs. dividends optimization, and personal vs. corporate tax planning to maximize RRSP room, implement tax-efficient investing, and build long-term wealth in Canada. Using financial buckets, investment-bucket strategies, capital gains strategies, and diversified Canadian tax strategies, business owners can design financial systems that support passive income planning, corporate structure optimization, and smart decisions around real estate vs. renting. Together, these wealth-building strategies and retirement planning tools support a clear financial vision and allow Canadians to protect their legacy while pursuing true financial independence.

Transcript:

Welcome, welcome everyone to this joint Canadian Wealth Secrets and David Eadie webinar. We’re gonna be going just in a minute. you are getting here, get yourself settled. Let us know in the chat, you know, whereabouts you’re coming from and also maybe a thing or two about maybe, know, what your industry is.

Maybe a little bit about about yourself there as well and we’ll we’ll get rolling here with with David

Yeah, it’s always great to see where people are coming to us from. Actually, David, let people know where are you coming from and we’ll get ourselves going here in just a moment.

I’m in, well, Vaudreuil, which is just outside of Montreal, just across the bridge. So I’m here in Quebec. So we’re, I guess Eastern Canada, I guess we’re all over Canada. Yeah. Yeah. Most of us, most everyone here will be, so probably my guess is, is from all over Canada. We’re from the South West side of Ontario, but you know, we always, we always love to see where everyone’s coming from. So folks, if you can get in the chat, let us know that.

Get your typing fingers ready. We’d love to hear that at the Canadian Well Secrets team.

Yes. And as people are doing that, we are going to get ourselves started here and we want to dig in with David who specializes in estate planning and legacy planning. So without further ado, David, tell us a little bit about your backstory and what you specialize in helping Canadians. And in particular today, we’re going to be talking about business owners, succession, legacy.

and estate planning.

Well, first off, I want to thank you guys for having me. This is truly an honor to get to have this conversation because this is the least sexiest topic that you guys probably will ever talk about. Nobody wants to talk about death and nobody wants to talk about legacy planning. through your work, I’ve followed you guys and you’re out there putting all the important information that people need to know about. So I’m really honored to be here. So I want to first off thank you for having me. Of course.

How it started for me, I was sitting in a cold courtroom bench. I was listening to a lawyer, two lawyers and a judge determine the fate of my parents’ assets, assets that my family did not end up holding on to. And it all started from seven years, 10 court appearances and $50,000 in lawyers fees, settled my parents’ estate and they had a will. And I ended up writing my book during the pandemic, Executor of Help, How to Settle an Estate.

picking an executor and avoid family fights. And that was all due to, every time I would talk about what I was going through, I would hear about from a client, because I’ve been an advisor for over 40 years, I’d hear from a client or I hear from a friend. When I would talk about what I was going through, they would tell me, you know what, I know of a family that’s gone through that, or I’ve gone through it I’m no longer talking to a brother or a sister, or there’s a family.

disagreement we had to go to court. So I didn’t want people to go through what I went through and I ended up writing the book. And since then, even though I’ve been an advisor for over 40 years, since the loss of my parents and then writing the book, my practice is leaning towards more estate and legacy planning because I found out that there’s so much information that needs to be put out there. And also there’s the discussions that have to

take place because a lot of people, again, this is the least sexiest topic that you guys are gonna talk about. Hey, I’m interested for sure. That’s why I want to have this conversation. let’s chat about the will because I think when you said all of that happened and you still had a will, tell us, because I think a lot of us will think, we got a state plan and we got a succession plan, but we all go, let’s get a will in place as our very first step and I think a lot of us will also go, that’s…

that’s great when I have this will and I got a corporate will. like when we have that, we assume that it’s all going to be fine when we have that in place. So telling you about like the horror stories here, like why is this not just good enough here? Okay. First off, you were assuming that most people have a will. Yeah. Yeah, I that’s true. I have a will. But for probably between 45 to 50%, yeah, probably 45 % and up.

of Canadians don’t have a will or an updated will. And that’s probably because most people either want to avoid the topic, they procrastinate, or they say, you know what, I’ll be dead. What difference will it make? the family deal with it with that. So what I found out through my research and talking through people there that even though the will is the focal point, most families don’t have the conversations.

So most families will fall into three categories. There’s the one that if we talk about death, something’s gonna happen. So we don’t wanna do that. So let’s stay away from it. Or there is a will in the family, but nobody talks about it. So they let the paperwork do the talking once they’re gone. And then there’s the third type of family, the family that they recognize that passing away, actually, should give a spoiler alert. We’re all going to die.

Not if when.

Yeah, exactly. What a downer. Spoiler alert. I know. I know. I know. the third type of family, they realize that this is going to happen. It’s a natural progression of life and they want to pass on the legacy. And when I talk about legacy, it’s not just possessions. It’s not just the money. It’s about values, know, traditions. They want to pass that on and making a will, having the open family conversations.

is what helps families continue on great traditions. Traditionally, when there’s an inheritance, it’s probably between 65 to 70 % of the inheritance doesn’t make it to the third generation. And that’s also because there’s no conversations. There’s no conversations of what’s gonna happen. The matriarch or the patriarch, they don’t have the conversations or

there’s family disagreements and no one wants to really touch the subject and it only becomes an issue when there’s a death in the family. So yes, the will is important, but most people don’t even have that. And today there’s no excuse not to have one. You you should, you know, you could go to, you know, go to a lawyer or here in Quebec have an odory and have it professionally done. Or you can go online and have a will done. You know, a company like legal wills or willful.

you could have a will done. So there’s no excuse for not having a will.

Got it. And obviously that would be the first step, but you’ve already mentioned about half of Canadians either don’t have a will or they don’t have an updated will, which is obviously problematic. But there’s also some common mistakes that you’ve mentioned to us in the past that I’m curious if you could share here. Like what are some common mistakes that actually, although the will’s in place, might lead to some family

fights, maybe even tearing the family apart. Like what are some of those common mistakes that, you know, might be some landmines we might be able to avoid when we do update our will?

or you say family minds, in year five of my podcast, I call it family messiness. All families are messy, whether we want to admit it or not. So and you really don’t know about somebody until you have to share an inheritance with them. So the most common mistake is that there’s no conversations around the will. Yes, we’ve written a will and then not preparing the executor. So you know,

preparing, not preparing the will properly and not having the conversations and not preparing the executor. Those are where we end up with the landmines. There’s damaging family fights. Our courts are filled with families in court right now fighting over cottages. They’re fighting over businesses. They’re fighting over money. When I was doing the research for my book, a mediator told me that it was common for, you know, once parents had passed away that

the children would end up fighting over the estate. What’s happening now is, is that the children are now fighting with the parents for their inheritance before they pass away. So our courts are filled with that and it comes back down to the basics of not having open family conversations. Right, right. Fill me in on this. I’ve always wondered about this too, that when I, this is years ago, because when I had a…

a corporation, my lawyer was like, Hey, you should have a second will. I think, I think it’s maybe not commonplace for for everyone to know that you maybe we should have that but I’m still fuzzy on why I would need that second well, would you be able to shed some light there for us? Well, you would you’d have your your your will, which we don’t have the assets, right? It’s a second will or is it a succession plan? Because as a business owner, that’s a whole you know, you know, an individual who’s

who’s employed, you know, the will is fine, but as a business owner, there needs to be a succession plan. I like to use the example of Tony Hsieh, if I could share that story. He was owned Zappos, an online shoe company. And they’re in Las Vegas. If you’ve ever gone to Vegas, you’ve seen how it’s built up, partly due to the fact of Tony Hsieh. Anyway.

He in 2009, Amazon bought the company for $1.2 billion. He pocketed probably about 214 million from the sale. His estate was worth, his net worth went to about $850 million. And he was very philanthropic. He was known in the community and you would figure that he was well organized. mean, come on, he’s almost a billionaire.

when he suddenly died in 2020 and his family went into the home, they found post-it notes everywhere, all over the wall. And there was no will, no succession plan. So what ended up happening was the family and the courts, they had to sort out all the businesses and all the promises. And that became a slow and messy job that put a lot of burden on the family because it didn’t allow them to grieve properly. So all of our conversations today,

should be about how we’re gonna leave a legacy and not a legacy in a mess like how Tony Shae did. So as business owners, we’re busy working on the business every day, but we’re not thinking about what’s gonna, if something was to happen, not just death, but could be a disability, could be a divorce, what’s gonna happen to the business? And there’s only gonna be three options. could say that you want the business to continue, you’re gonna sell it, or you’re gonna shut it down. But nobody knows what…

the outcome of that business is going to be if there’s no succession plan. How is it going to pass on to the next generation or if you’re going to sell it or if you’re going to sell it to the employees or you’re just going to close the doors, which could bring hardship to your employees and also to all your creditors, people that you’ve done business and you owe money to. So the second will or I would call it a succession plan needs to be in place, especially for business owners.

You have your will, but also have the succession plan as well. What’s going to happen if you were no longer there for the business? Got it.

I’m curious about, as business owners ourselves, and I’m sure those who are joining us here today, a lot of them are from the Canadian Well Secrets community and they’re listening in, many are business owners as well. What would you maybe recommend in terms of timelines? How much time is it per week? Is it per month? it…

you put one day on the calendar that you hammer through, you know, all of these ideas, like how do you get someone to sort of take that first step in order to start this planning process? Because I mean, you know, we can list all the things that we should have or should have in place, but I think one of the biggest challenges we run into is like, when are we going to do it? And like, how much time is that going to take me? So

How would you get someone maybe started on this pathway? I’m sure it’s not gonna be all done in one afternoon, but like, what does that look like and sound like to you if you were gonna help someone take that first step?

And that’s because it’s not sexy. you’re gonna have your team of professionals. So I would start the conversation with your lawyer and talk about that you wanna set up, you wanna have your will done, you’re thinking about, it could depend on your family situation. Maybe you’ve just had a new addition to the family or you’ve been divorced and you’ve never had a will or you had a will before, it needs to be updated.

you’re going to have to pick a time where you’re going to decide to have this conversation to get the ball rolling. So you’re going to have the conversation with your lawyer and to get the conversation started, not only for the will, but also for the succession plan. And it also comes into play, which is also important, is who do you choose as the executor? Now everybody, 80 % of most people choose an executor. It’s usually a family friend or

or a family member and they take on the job because it’s an honor. But this is the worst job that put on anybody because 90 % of most people have no idea what to do, where to start. And on average, it takes anywhere between 18 to 24 months to settle an estate. In my case, it was seven years. And you’re asking someone to spend over 100 hours. I’m not, know, time they’re gonna have to take away from their work.

to settle your estate. if you add to the, you it’s one thing to be an employee, but if you add into the mix of business and the individual doesn’t know anything about the business and they’re the ones making the decisions for, you know, how the businesses are going to go forward. Again, if there’s no success, there is a succession plan. You still, they still have to learn, you know, how are they going to sell it? You know, the shares, are they going to, you know, are they going to sell it to an employee? How is it going to continue on? So you’re going to ask to also,

prepare your executor and far too often, you you leave, you need an executor when you’re alive, but you need to prepare. No, you need an executor when you’re, when you pass away, but you need to prepare them while you’re alive. And the more you could help them, the easier it is going to be on the job. And on top of that, you’re asking someone to deal with the, there’s over, I counted maybe a hundred to 115 different

tasks you’re asking an executive to do and you need to prepare them as best as possible. So that means you’re going to have your team of advisors. So you’re going to make sure they know where to talk to your lawyer, how to talk to your executive, to your accountant, how to talk to your financial advisor. Those are the basic team members that you want to have in place to make it easier on your executive. And on top of that, you’re asking the executive to put up

they could be grieving the loss of you, the individual, but also you are asking them to deal with family members. And again, I’ve said, you really don’t know about somebody until you have to share an inheritance with them. And this is where we run into problems because the executor also is not, could be privy to, you know, family dynamics where some people get along, don’t get along, and they’re going to be put in the middle of

the family messiness, the drama. And it doesn’t take much for somebody to want to take you to court as the executor. And you’re being held responsible for making sure the estate is settled or the business and also not only the estate, but also the business, what’s going to happen to it. Right, right. I can imagine that. Like I never thought of a thought of that is when you think of an executor, you think, I’m to manage this, but the business all has to be thought of as a well. And it makes sense to

to loop in the team, the lawyer, the accountant, the advisors, the business partners. That’s where my mind went when you were talking about this. Treat us for as an example right here. Kyle and I are 50-50 business partners in multiple businesses. What are some of the, I guess, called blind spots that typical business owners and especially partnerships have when it comes to succession planning and also

that to estate planning. What should we be on the lookout for between the two of us? It’s the discussion if, God forbid, something happens to you. To either or because, say for example, I’m on one of you to disappear, but say one of you disappears. It’s not me. Does the other one want to be in business with the family member? Right. Right. Does the family member understand the business? So what’s the mechanism that your surviving partner can buy out?

the family. If there’s no mechanism, there’s no money for it, now you’re in business with a spouse or a child who has no idea of the day to day or the dynamics between the two of you. So you need to have the conversation, what if something was to happen? Not even death, what if one of you ended up disabled and you’re in the hospital and you can’t speak to yourself? So add on another layer to the estate plan, you want to

put in your power of attorney. Say for example, I’m using you guys as an example, probably, I don’t know the bank situation, but you probably need two signatures for some of the businesses. What happens if one of you is laid up and you can’t get signature signed to pay the employees? So all of these things you have to take into consideration in terms of what would happen to the business. And not so much if someone dies, but if…

there’s a disability and or there’s a sickness and they can’t come into work. Right, right. And and you said mechanism like share some common mechanisms like I know what we have in place, but maybe maybe we’re missing like maybe this is where a blind spot for us is right now. Talk, let’s talk about digital assets. Okay, you know, you’ve got all those passwords and logins. Right. For every one email address is probably about 160 digital identities related to those those passwords.

So it’s not only your personal ones at home, Amazon, your personal emails, but there’s also the digital assets that are related to the business. What will happen there? If you haven’t got a place or each other doesn’t know what was, if something was to happen, where can we get our hands on all the loggers and passwords for the company? We’re so tied into the digital age, but you’ve not only got your

your personal, but you add in the business side to it. And that could also become a mess. That could also slow down the business. Yeah, yeah. I’m imagining like there was something I put into place a number of years ago on the personal side, like it was a binder. It was like a binder that was like I had all the digital assets information had all of our insurance information, all of our, you details and whether you got gosh forbid like I passed away or my wife or we both passed away and someone needed to kind of step in and look after our children.

So at the time it was like this binder, this family planning binder is what we called it. And, and I’m imagining that something like that, like, like, that like, I know you talked about a red envelope at some point. It’s like, that, is that a red envelope situation? That’s part of my family legacy blueprint. so you’ve got all that, that, that paperwork, but you’re also going to put it in a brightly colored red envelope. Okay. Cause if something was to happen in the family and you told the executor, if something wants to happen, look for.

the bright red envelope. And the reason is for that is when an emergency happens, people are traumatized and you can’t find anything when you’re traumatized. So if you’re saying, yeah, yeah, I know everything’s in it, but if you were to say, John, to somebody, you know, if something was to happen, all you need to do is go in the filing cabinet or it’s kept in a safe and here’s how to get into the safe and look for the bright red envelope.

So once they see the bright red envelope, it’s gonna be a breath of fresh air because they know once they open up that bright red envelope, inside there’s gonna be the will, the power of attorney, the digital assets, your investments, your assets, your mortgage, everything that they need to do, they need to carry on the job that you’ve entrusted in them to be the executor, they’ve got it there in their bright red envelope. Now, think about business owners, is it commonplace for

us to like in the business office or have a something similar to that or or is that like right? Go ahead. Absolutely. You’d want to have your own because again, you’ve got your your home, your home life and you’ve also got the business life. Even though the two of them might intertwine, there’s still two separate entities. So the same thing that you’re going to do at home, you’re going to have a separate set of protocols for your red envelope for for the business so that

Again, something was to happen. We don’t have to run around. We know what’s the procedure. What’s going to be, you know, here’s the insurance policies for the business. Here’s what the succession plan is. Here’s who you need to contact. All of those things there. Again, it’s to make it easier on anybody. Think of this as the greatest gift of love that you could give to your family, that you’ve got it so organized. Every time I talk to individuals and they go through it or they get

my family legacy blueprint, they say that it’s so much easier because now they’ve taken a weight off their shoulder. They have not left their families disorganized and in chaos. again, when you can’t find things and you’re traumatized, you’ve got grief, you’re just looking for stuff. But if you say, you know what, they told me where to look for it and everything’s going to be there, then it just takes a weight off of everything. That’s why I say it’s the greatest gift of love that you could give to your family.

That’s a huge, huge win for sure. And I know for me, I look over, I’ve got a large filing cabinet sitting there. There’s a lot in there, but I’m telling you it would take quite some time for people to start to wait.

Are you telling me that’s where I should go? That’s your red envelope?

my red envelope for now, John, but I don’t wish that on anyone. It’s not a gift.

Trouble,

we’re in trouble. So you just threw that out there. I got a big giant filing cabinet. John, knock yourself out. Thanks. Everybody else heard that. So head on over to Kyle’s filing cabinet if you want to get all his details.

Yeah, there you go. There you go. Well,

really what I think this, you know, this conversation we often say on the podcast, a lot of times when we are opening and going down the rabbit hole and bringing on guests to discuss is like helping ourselves selfishly try to figure out how do we do things better? You know, you are, everyone’s always told about a well, everybody’s always told about keeping it updated. Everyone’s told about, you know, keeping things organized and make sure that, you know, everyone in your, you know, in your family or in that

immediate space knows where to go. But over time, those things drift. you know, this is something that has been on our radar. I know, John, you did your binder a little while ago, I did partial binder a while ago, but I am definitely not nearly as organized.

Kyle?

He does. I’ve been nudging him. Yes, 100%. Mine’s also out of date because big things change after a few years.

I know, I know. We’re here to learn with you, my friend. We’re here to learn.

I feel like this is a confessional right now. You’re confessing your sins right here. I like to say that intensive care is no place to find out that there’s no will. You can never have a meaningful conversation with anybody when they’re on a respirator. So again, I come back to this is the greatest gift of love that you could give not only to your family, but clearly between the two of you, your business partner.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and so I want to come back to this and say, you know, is there like a schedule that you would recommend so that, you know, for example, as business partners, John and I, or I would also argue, you know, you and your spouse, right, our partners in life, right? So you have to like, what does that schedule look like that you put on? Is it semi-annually? Is it annually? Is it every couple of years that you have it so that it’s

We have got this in the calendar and we’re gonna come back and we’re going to review things together. What does that look like and sound like for you or is there any sort of starting points that you direct people to consider?

I would say first off, you want to start today if you haven’t done anything, but if you’ve already done something, then I would say anytime there’s ever a major event in your life, then you would, would, you would, go update the will go make the changes and make sure that it’s inside your red envelope. I, especially if you, if you had children, I talk about on my book, a friend of mine, he, his parents didn’t have

Will so his mom had passed away when he was younger his dad passed away He didn’t have a will and he remembers distinctly in the parking lot of the funeral home he’s his one and took his sister and one and took him and He remembers that because there was no will every time they needed money for school outings or for educational purposes they had to go petition the court because now the court

is now in charge of all the dollars for the child. that’s if you have children you want to have make sure that you’ve updated the will you’ve talked to the guardian and you picked a guardian that you’re both happy with and make sure that your kids are taken care of. As they get older so you know they might be of school age but they reach 18 or 19 or 20 years old

and you haven’t updated the will, and if something was to happen to you, if you go look at the will, it might still talk about the guardian or the trust that you had set up for them when they were children. But now they’re older now and you’ve got assets and you wanna pass those assets onto them. Again, like I said, anytime there’s a major event in your life, you need to make those adjustments. Got it. Got it. I know that you’ve talked also about like a 90 day family legacy framework.

Chuck, there something that you also mentioned your blueprint? Can you fill us in on some details that we all kind of walk away with going like, hey, I know there’s more to learn from David. So well, the family legacy blueprint is what I came up with is just a three step process in terms of create an estate plan, which we talked about because because we’re talking about business owners, you want to have not only the estate plan, which is the power of attorney, you know, end of life decisions.

And also, you’ve also got to add on the succession plan. And then the second part is to prepare your executor. Prepare your executor as best you can. Don’t leave them out in the cold in terms of what do I do? Because you’re asking them to do a really tough job. And on top of that, they’re on the hook for making sure that the taxes are paid. And they also got to make sure that the beneficiaries are paid. And the beneficiaries

they’re not interested in, you know, the hundred hours or the time off that they had to take for the executor, what they got to do for the job. They’re only interested is where’s my check? Where’s my inheritance? So that’s why as the executor and you’re preparing them, you’re also going to let them know that they need to keep the beneficiaries aware of what’s going on. Maybe it’s a zoom call. Maybe it’s an email every couple of weeks. Hey, the house is up for sale, but I can’t get it sold. I’m going to have to

you know, do have some repairs done on it. So it can be sold properly. So all of those things. the you have to prepare the executive for the job, not only for the job of, you know, the the business part of it, but it’s also the the personal part where they’re gonna have to deal with beneficiaries. And again, if there’s family messiness, they only make the job even even worse. And then the third part to the Family Legacy Blueprint is talking to the family. Don’t let the paperwork do the talking once you’re gone.

So that means having a family meeting. You might do it over the holidays. I don’t suggest doing it at the Christmas table. Past the cranberry and by the way, you’re not in the will. I would wait a couple of days and say, hey, I wanna get the meal digest. Sorry?

Let the meal digest before you tell them, right?

Exactly,

but I wouldn’t even do it at the table that I see either. I wait a day or so when everybody’s you know they’ve they’re trying to get over the turkey or whatever and they’re just and you want to say you know what I want to have a conversation so as as parents you might say you know we’re thinking about we’ve updated our wills and we’re just want to have a conversation we are now are the kids going to hear this absolutely not when my parents were going they came in our office and they did their will.

And even though I’ve sat through hundreds of client meetings, with the lawyer, the day my parents came in the office, I couldn’t sit in and listen, because I could not fathom my parents not being there. And that’s probably my biggest mistake. And that’s probably one of the mistakes how we ended up with being in court for seven years, because my parents didn’t have the conversations with us. I I knew what was in the wheel. It should have been split three ways.

But again, you really don’t know about somebody until you share an inheritance with them. And there’s one sibling who believed that they were entitled to more. So hence we had to end up to go to court. So when you have those family conversations, you’re going to explain, you know, who you chose as the executor. Are there going to be hurt feelings? Probably. But you know what? You’re getting it out there. People are going to be upset. And that’s what a lot of families hold back on is because they know the dynamics of the family. They know the dynamics of

some of the children and the relationships that they had. And what they’ll do is they’ll hold off, because they don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. But by having those conversations, nobody can come back and say, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what’s next. They didn’t know what the end of life decisions would be. You could be in the hospital, and mom and dad said, hey, I don’t want to be kept alive artificially.

You know, there’s going to be a fight saying, no, this is what mom would want or, you know, let’s just talk to another. You know, if you follow along with what mom and dad said, you know what, remember what mom and dad said? They don’t want to be kept alive artificially. Right. So let’s it’s, it’s hard, but we need to pull the plug. That’s it. But we’ve had, they’ve had those conversations and most families aren’t going to have those conversations. have a fam, two brothers who don’t talk to each other because their mother left real Dalton China to

to one son and when they were cleaning up the house, the other brother went to the brother and says, you know what, I’d really like that royal adult in China go to my daughter. He said, go talk to my wife. He went over to the wife. The wife said, no, your mom wanted me to have. Came back to him. I can say what he said about his sister-in-law, but they haven’t talked for 12 years over royal adults in China. So if mom had said, hey,

I want this to go this person that to go that person. We wouldn’t have those conversations, but a lot of families have broken up over nonsense.

Well, and that’s something that I had heard recently in a presentation as well around this idea that, you know, if you don’t have the conversation, you’re basically setting up the executor to be the one to take the brunt of whatever the decision was. Absolutely. Right. And that to me, think is like a massive takeaway from this conversation is that, you know, we need to be, first of all, we need to get clear when we talk about our four stages of a healthy wealth plan, the first stage is vision.

Right. And that’s planning your vision. Well, the same is true here, right? Planning like for what you want to happen all the way through. The vision doesn’t stop when you leave here. It’s what happens after we leave here as well. Right. What do we want to see happening and, addressing those things? Cause here’s the interesting part. Mom may have left those, you know, that China thinking nobody else wanted it. And that’s why she decided to gift it to, you know, her son’s spouse.

And, you know, she might’ve thought that that wasn’t a big deal, but it had, heard that from the children, maybe your decision would’ve been different. Right. And to me, that’s like a massive takeaway as we, you know, don’t just make these decisions and let it be, but to let people in on these conversations. And I would argue that if you do it productively and if you do it often enough, you’re going to strengthen your family bond instead of doing the potential opposite, right. Which can be accidental, but

can be lasting as you’ve just mentioned.

Yeah. And I think the other takeaway, Kyle, is that you need to fix that filing cabinet.

100.

observation you throwing out that other one I’m like no you’re not wrong

Take the V on down from Montreal, the way down here to Windsor and give me a little slap over the head. it is something, just recently with my real estate partner actually used to be a co-host on the show. We just updated shareholder agreements. So we’re slowly working on these things, but I think this is one of those pieces that it has to become something that’s on the forefront. And I appreciate people like yourself, David,

bring this back and make sure that, you know, this is top of mind because with so many things happening in the world.

Kyle,

even though I’m pushing it a little bit, this is not sexy. Nobody wants to do this. Nobody gets up and say, you know what? Tomorrow I think I want to talk about my shareholder agreement. think if something was to happen to me, I think we should talk. Nobody wants to do this, but it has to be done. If you think about what will happen to your family. So you’ve got to make the decision, what kind of legacy do I want to leave? Do I want to leave it?

It’s easy on my family or do I want to leave a mess and leave disorganization and chaos? Right. Now, here’s a question that I think lumps into the like this was a question from Sunil who who’s here viewing us viewing with us today. But it’s also kind of linked to a question I wondered about the executor and thinking about like I know that this might also be resolved if you properly educate your executor because my wonder was like is it if a business owner is it better to

choose a third party executive or your spouse. But if you educate your spouse along the way, you might not necessarily need to do that because there’s probably some benefits for your spouse to be the executive. But Sunil’s question specifically was, is it worthwhile to have a trust company be your executor and what are the pros and cons there? That’s a good question, Sunil. There’s no right answer. But what I would say is, if you want to take the drama and you want to make it

Easier on your family and have that third person because they’re not interested in You know, you don’t talk to your cousin or your cousin thinks you’re an idiot, right trust company don’t care, So but you have to under I say that with a caveat is that? Understand it’ll depend on the size of the estate because there are going to be fees involved right and you know some Beneficiaries might say, know what? Hey, all the fees are being eaten up by the executor

So you have to decide what makes more sense. If it’s take away that the drama and they’re acting in his business because they don’t they don’t know the rest of your family from a hole in the head and they’re just doing their business and they’re going to charge a fee and what’s left over and it’ll be left to the beneficiaries, then that might be the route, especially if you have a business and you know, there’s a it’s going to be pretty complicated and.

depending on what your succession plan is, how the shares are gonna be set up and organized, it might be better to put that in the hands of true professionals that are gonna do everything from A to Z. But there’s no one right answer. Even just by having the will and making that choice, am I gonna have an executor who’s a friend or a family friend or a spouse, or am I gonna have a trustee? The majority of Canadians don’t even do that.

get to that point to choose who’s gonna be the executor. So let’s at least get to the point of having the will. Right, right. Yeah, I think we’ve had some great takeaways, especially Kyle getting his final cabinet organized. But David, we wanna thank you for joining us here. Any final takeaways? Like I think you just had it there, final leave behinds for the audience and the listeners is let’s get to the will. But is there any other big kind of takeaways you want the listener here to walk away with?

It’s just that for especially for business owners, don’t wait too long to do this. Because a lot of business owners wait until something an emergency happens and then, I should have done it. So don’t wait too long. The other thing is the other big challenge that you need to be thinking about is, is not planning for retirement. Yes, you’ve been building up the business, but you haven’t really thought about what am I going to do after I get rid of the business or I’m or if I was to pass away? What am I going to do?

if I had to leave it tomorrow, you know, do you have enough money in put aside and you’ve planned for the free retirement? And the third thing is understand the value of your business because what you might think your business is worth and what somebody else is willing to pay for it, that could have a huge change dynamic in terms of what’s going to go forward in terms of the type of lifestyle that you’re going to have based on what your business is worth. those, if you can take care of those three

those three areas, don’t wait so long, plan for your retirement and understand the value of your business. And then follow along in terms of create the estate plan, the succession plan, prepare your executor, and then talk to your family with an open family conversations. Then you’re gonna just leave a legacy of love and order. And you’ll be remembered for that. I love it.

David, this has been so helpful, so informative and the Canadian Well Secrets audience wants to thank you. Where can they go to find out more about your blueprint, about the other support that you offer in order for them to maybe take that next step? And let’s be honest, as business owners, we’re very, very, very busy and therefore I am commonly suggesting that people do seek out that additional support. You pay a small amount in order to be guided through

the process, where can they find out more about you and your blueprint?

You can just go to davidd.com on there. You can buy my book. I’ve got free resources. I’ve got executor checklists that you would put in your red envelope so that you know that the executor knows exactly what they need to do. And then also, I’ve also got a legacy readiness quiz. And it asks you a bunch of questions and it gives you a score so you know what you need to work on.

and you can just reach out to me. I’ll be starting a new family blueprint where you can get the course or you can get the blueprint from me. It’s now in new printing now, but they just can reach out to me on my website or at LinkedIn. And if you have any questions, I’m there answering. Thanks so much. Appreciate you so much for having me. I appreciate it. And Kyle, you know what you need to do.

I do. I do. Well, I have a funny feeling I’m going to be knocking on your door for that blueprint because I’m going to need the hand holding for sure just to get it done.

Okay, Kyle. Okay. See what I’m doing for you, John? See what I’m doing? Yeah, you’re helping out. You’re helping out. Okay, great. Awesome.

Thanks so much. Thanks so much, my friends. Before you head off there, David, we’ve got a couple of questions in the chat. Maybe we’ll do a little bit of Q &A if you’ve got a few minutes here. Sunil is asking some tax-efficient strategies for inheritance. He’s got the principal home, which most Canadians are well aware of as a tax-efficient vehicle to hang on to. And it’s no capital gains there. Of course, tax-free savings account.

also mentions whole life insurance. Those are some vehicles, anything else he’s asking that, you know, you’ve got up your sleeve that people might be wanting to think about looking into.

Well, not knowing Sunil’s total situation, I would have that conversation with the accountant and also the lawyer. First off, does he have a will? And then you would look at in terms of is there ways I can defer taxes? Does it make sense depending on your family situation? Should I have some trust? It would all depend on the size of the estate and what’s his goal. Do you have a secondary?

property, investment properties, those sort of things. That’s where the insurance would come in to offset that. And also trust and speak to somebody, an accountant or a lawyer to see which would be most tax efficient to have the trust. Who the trustees be and take into consideration what would the taxes be on the trust every year. Again, it would depend on the size of the estate and the amount of assets that they hold.

Yeah, that definitely great, great response there. And you know, we’ve had chats on our podcast as well as with clients around, you know, the idea of a trust. There’s so many factors that, you know, come into it. The size of the estate in general is going to be one of them. Are we selling the business, you know? And then of course, what’s that going to look like and sound like, you know, over time is, is that estate freeze something that makes sense to be doing over that 21 year period? So great question there from Sunil.

Sunil, you’ve kind of highlighted some of those common tax efficient strategies that are, I’ll call it more accessible for all. And then you can kind of go up that ladder as you know, your estate gets larger into the trust realm.

The one thing I would add, Kyle, based on the questions that Sunil is asking, now I would go to a lawyer. This is not a do-it-yourself online will, a state set up. Don’t try to do this yourself. This, you need to sit down with professionals. Yes, it might cost a little bit more, but the couple of thousand dollars that you’re paying out to have it done properly will save your estate millions of dollars probably, and also a lot of grief going forward.

100%. 100%. Do you see any others in the chat there?

There’s one more here from Electron Recycler. I’ll read it word for word here. Other than the beneficiaries, who will police or what is included in the inventory for probate? Vehicles, for example, or things that don’t actually require a grant of probate to access to avoid unnecessary probate fees?

I don’t understand. What else do they need to…

wondering, he just popped his camera on there. Do you want to maybe verbalize that just to kind of be a little more clear? It sounds like basically you’re looking for like which things are going to be something that may get held up in probate, which won’t. And I think the corporate will, David, if you want to maybe talk a little bit about why that second will or that dual will part is helpful for the corporate business owners that are out there.

It

would be tax efficient again, not knowing everybody’s situation. That’s where I would say sit down and cause we’re just having this quick ring here. So it, it may, some cases it may not make sense, to do it, to have the second will, but you, again, I would talk to a professional who knows the ins and outs of your whole situation. And then you can make the decision there. I don’t want to just say willy-nilly just out. Sure.

what you should do if you get what I’m saying.

Yeah. And I would say too, as well, and totally agreed with David, like you want to make sure your situation makes sense. The one application of that corporate will that’s helpful is that it actually, sort of separates the probate process for your personal assets and it separates what will happen with the shares of the company and what will happen there so that you won’t get vehicles in a corporation sort of tied up in your own personal

probate situation. that would probably be a good starting point. Whereas if you only have the one will then some, this question is probably more relevant where, you know, there’s going to be things that are going to potentially get caught up in terms of, know, who do they go to, you know, who do the shares go to all of those types of things sort of come into play.

That’s why I say that as most, you know, a lot of people want to do it yourself. That scenario, you need to go sit down in an office with a professional that you either know of or have been referred to so that they can understand your full situation and be open and honest of what you’re solving for. What is it you, at the end of you signing the papers, what do you hope to accomplish for your family going forward?

and then they’ll guide you in the right direction.

Awesome, awesome. Well, thanks for sticking around and answering a few questions from the audience. My pleasure. Yeah, we appreciate you as we said earlier and looking forward to connecting soon. Absolutely, thank you so much guys. And Kyle, you know what you need to do.

Absolutely, absolutely. So thanks everyone for joining us here. And to those who are going to listen to this on the podcast, looking forward to hearing some feedback and hopefully.

David, you’ll be hearing from others like me who have filing cabinets that need a little bit of work.

Sure. Thanks very much, everybody. Take care. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Canadian Wealth Secrets is an informative podcast that digs into the intricacies of building a robust portfolio, maximizing dividend returns, the nuances of real estate investment, and the complexities of business finance, while offering expert advice on wealth management, navigating capital gains tax, and understanding the role of financial institutions in personal finance.

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