WILL

LIVING WILL

POWER OF ATTORNEY

ESTATE PLANNING

CONTESTED WILLS AND ESTATES

PROBATE AND ESTATE ADMINISTRATION

WILL

A Will is one of the most important legal documents that every person should prepare.  The Will specifies how you wish your estate to be distributed upon your death.  Morley has spent a great deal of time and effort ensuring that we prepare wills of the highest quality and legal certainty.  Certain provinces, including British Columbia, have an act that regulates how an estate should be distributed to children.  In B.C. this is call the Wills Variation Act.  When preparing your Will we will provide estate planning advise to ensure you are compliant with the laws of the province and to limit the amount of taxes and probate fees incurred upon distribution of the estate.  The most important factor is that your wishes are met and the Will is prepared correctly as to prevent litigation.  

We are often asked about the Will kits which can be purchased.  Although they are inexpensive, you will not receive the professional advise to ensure your Will is properly prepared or estate planning advise.  To have a Will professionally prepared is relatively inexpensive considering its importance.  I would also recommend that you ensure the lawyer or notary who prepares your Will is very experienced and is up to date on any case law.

LIVING WILL

Most people are less familiar with Living Wills than Wills.  A Living Will is a document which simply states whether or not you wish to be kept alive using life support if you are declared brain dead.  This document is important to let people know what your wishes are, and it alleviates the pressure and your family or friends from having to make this difficult decision.  

POWER OF ATTORNEY

We always recommend that a Power of Attorney be prepared at the time you do your Will.  In some ways it is more important than the Will.  This document allows you to appoint an individual to have legal authority to handle your affairs.  This is important in a case where you become mentally unable to take care of yourself. This person may sign any legal document on you behalf, from signing cheques to pay your bills to the sale of property.  It should be an individual that you consider extremely trust worthy given the power you are providing them.  It could become extremely difficult and expensive to handle your affairs if you become mentally incapacitated without this document.

ESTATE PLANNING

At the time of the preparation of your Will it is important to consider the best way to have your estate distributed.  This may be detailed in your Will, or in order to reduce tax and probate fees you may wish to arrange for your assets to pass outside the estate.  Morley will take the time to ensure that your wishes are met and that you are presented with the important aspects of estate planning.

CONTESTED WILLS AND ESTATES (Disinherited Children)

Morley has successfully represented my people who feel that they have not received their fair share of an estate.  We are able to represent clients outside the province or country regarding estates within British Columbia.  

It is common for a person to feel that they have not been properly provided for in a Will or estate distribution.  This may be for many reasons, an important one being that the rules of the Wills Variation Act were not followed and the children of the deceased were not equally provided for.  As this act provides for a 6 month limitation to contest the Will, it important that the child commence an action as quickly as possible if they feel they have not been properly provided for.  Even if the estate appears to be equally divided, there may be other circumstances that would entitle them to a larger portion of the estate. 

PROBATE AND ESTATE ADMINISTRATION

If you are an executor of an estate one of your most important tasks is to have the estate probated if there assets over $10,000.00  This mean applying to the government to determine the value of the estate and paying to probate fee, which enables the estate to be distributed.  We have probated many estates, and one of our goals is to ensure it is completed as quickly as possible so the assets are not tied up any longer than necessary.  The average time to probate an estate is six months to one year, where we are averaging half that time.

If there is no will and therefore no executor appointed, or an executor wish to step down an administrator for the estate needs to be appointed.  In certain cases, with the approval of the beneficiaries of the estate our office may be appointed administrator.

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