Wills and Estate Planning

COMPLETE Estate Plans (Wills, Powers of Attorney and Personal Directives) from$799.00 (or $999.00 per couple)

You probably already know the risk of not having a complete estate plan with a Will, Power of Attorney and Personal Directive.

Without a Will, you won’t have any control over how your assets are divided., and won’t have any control over naming a guardian for your minor children. If you lose mental capacity from an accident or disease you won’t have any say over who looks after your affairs or your healthcare without a Power of Attorney or Personal Directive.

You know it is important to have a proper Will and estate plan in place for your security, to protect your loved ones, and to ensure that dealing with your estate is smooth and efficiency upon your passing. And you don’t want the risk of trying a do-it-yourself kit or a discount paralegal service.

Good thing you found us.

We are a professional law firm with over 15 years’ of Wills and Estates Law experience. Over that time we have drafted hundreds of Estate plans for people of all walks of life.

Get in touch now!

Start by clicking on the Estate Plan link below to provide your contact information, or by calling our office at 403-247-2111 to schedule an initial consultation. At the initial consultation we will take your instructions and answer your questions, and schedule a date for the 2nd appointment to review and sign your Will, Power of Attorney and Personal Directive.

If you don’t require a full plan, and only need an individual document (Will, Codicil, Power of Attorney, or Personal Directive), please contact us for a quote.

Making an Estate Plan

A Will is a document that sets out what happens to your assets and who looks after your children if you pass on. The main purpose of a Will is to determine who should receive gifts from the estate (the collection of property and assets after debts are paid). It can also give burial (or cremation) instructions and can appoint a guardian for minor children.

The person making the Will is called the testator, the person(s) looking after the testator’s estate is called the personal representative(s) (the new term for executor), and the people who receive gifts from the estate are called beneficiaries.

GUARDIANSHIP

If you are a parent with children under the age of 18, a Will is the best and most efficient way for you to determine who will be responsible for your children if you pass on. This person is called a guardian, and they are automatically appointed upon your passing without the need for a court order or other formalities. You can name one or more people as guardians. This person or people are responsible for where your children live, their education, their activities, and their healthcare, and will be allowed to access estate funds in order to look after your children.

GIFTS TO BENEFICIARIES

People often have difficulty deciding how to divide their assets, and may overthink this part of the will. But the process does not need to be complicated. Most wills are “simple” wills, meaning they have a simple and efficient structure for gifting assets or dividing the estate. If you are in a relatively uncomplicated family situation and your assets are located in Alberta, chances are that a simple will can work for you.

For people with more complicated assets or family situations, or who may want to include gifts to people other than their spouse or children, we recommend the more traditional approach to estate planning. In this process, we hold more meetings with clients and spend more time drafting the documentation which result in higher a fee, but our costs are still typically hundreds of dollars less than what most law firms charge for the same service.

PowerS of Attorney and Personal DirectiveS

A Power of Attorney and Personal Directive are often considered your “living Will”, meaning that they take effect while you are still alive, if you lose mental capacity. These are separate documents and, due to their importance, they are included as standard in all of our estate plans.

The Power of Attorney appoints a person, the attorney, to look after your finances. They can pay your bills, maintain your home and invest money on your behalf.

The Personal Directive appoints an agent to look after your person, allowing them to decide where you reside, what activities you take part in and the healthcare you receive. The Personal Directive also sets out your end of life instructions, which tells the agent whether or not you want to be kept alive by artificial means or for pain medication to be administered.

For more information, or if you’d like to arrange for a consultation, please call us or click here:

*Prices quoted are for simple wills and estate plans. If you require a more complicated plan, additional charges may apply. All prices subject to GST.