The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 351
division of the property. There will
be many more legal expenses, and it
will be at least a year before the
assets can be divided. "It's cheaper to
have a lawyer draw up' a will than to
do the legal work if you die without a
will," she warned.
or instance, she said, it might
be necessary to hire appraisers
to value the assets. Children
under the age of majority will
have to be represented by
separate legal counsel.
Gamble explained that the reasons
for preparing a will include:
1. To accomplish transfers to loved
ones on death.
2. To preserve as much wealth as
possible for your beneficiaries.
3. To set out instructions as to how
your estate is to be administered.
4. To control the distribution of your
assets.
5. To provide evidence of your
wishes for guardianship and
maintenance of dependents.
If you die
without a will
your money
could be tied
up for a year
If you die without a will, the
estate is distributed in accordance
with the provisions of the Succession
Law Reform Act. It means if only the
spouse survives, he or she will inherit
everything. If there are surviving
children, everything will go to the
spouse if there is less than $200,000
in the estate but if there is more than
$200,000, the remainder above that
amount will be divided among the
children and the spouse. If only
children survive, the money will be
divided equally.
The reality of dying intestate
(without a will) can make it
impossible for the family business to
carry on, Gamble demonstrated.
Using the example of a couple who
has two farms worth $787,000, he
showed how the death could make
the farm uneconomical. If the
husband died, without a will, for
instance, probate fees, estate
administration charges, and funeral
expenses could eat up $57,000.
(Probate fees, Krantz-Sippel
revealed, are $5 per thousand for the
first $50,000 and $15 per thousand
for more than $50,000. Executors'
fees can run two and a half per cent
of all moneys in and out of the estate.
In most cases, where there is a will
and a family member is named
executor, they don't charge that large
a fee and save the estate money.)
With so much money coming out
of the estate, Gamble said, plus the
operating loan and the mortgages on
the two farms to be paid, it would
probably be necessary to sell the
second farm. In turn that would cost
$15,000 in real estate fees.
Meanwhile each of the children
would be entitled to a share of the
estate, a total of $212,000. All this
could mean that the surviving spouse
wasn't able to carry on the farm.
By planning, however, by having
a will and dividing the assets of the
farm between the spouses as part of
the farm operation, the amount of
money in the estate would be
reduced, the estate expenses would
be greatly reduced and the family
would likely be able to keep both
farms.
For all these measures, however,
the time to start planning is now.0
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