By Dianne Ojar-Ali

Last time we spoke about why you should have a Legal Will and Power of Attorneys for Medical and Financial. We will now talk about the consequences if you die without one.

Now if you do not have one in place, a request will have to be made through the court and they will appoint your estate trustees.

Do you want to have someone else tell your loved ones who can dictate and execute your estate, especially when these may not be the people you would have chosen? I know I would not want someone to choose for me. Ontario statute indicates the distribution of your assets regardless of your wishes and the cost of all the legal headache your estate will have to go through will most likely be more than if you had a Will in place.

If you still do not have a Will and you do not have your property and assets registered as “With Rights of Survivorship”, your spouse for example will not be able to go to the bank and withdraw funds to pay bills. The account will be frozen; however if it is set up correctly then your spouse can continue with his or her life and have access to the joint bank account. Please contact your bank and ask questions tomorrow and I mean tomorrow.

What if also you have a beneficiary for your insurance policy or bank accounts for example and you no longer have a relationship or contact with them guess what happens? You have no Will, which takes priority over every document you may have signed with the insurance company or bank. Now your family will question or fight for what they believe if legally theirs and this is when trouble starts. It can be expensive because lawyers will have to get involved. By the end of the process your loved ones may end up with next to nothing in their pockets.

If you do not have a will in place who do you believe gets the 1^st piece of the pie (estate)? The tax man, yes and it is a huge chunk. Check it out; do not take my word for it.

Now let us really get serious and talk about your children. Imagine for a moment that you are a single parent and you have children under the age of 18 years old and you suddenly are no longer here, what do you believe happens to your kids? I speak to parents all the time and they say to me that they already made arrangement verbally or they thought about it, well the reality is YOU HAVE TO PUT IT IN WRITING! Simply put. Do you want your little ones to be sent of to a foster home until the courts can decide for you?

I know of a tragic case that this is exactly what happened. As parents, we are supposed to protect our children and to assure that they are always safe whether we are here or not.

What if you are separated or divorced and your affairs were not updated and you have no will, what do you believe happens? Check it out! When you make the smart decision to start the process of having a Will, you are forced to make changes to your estate and your family will have peace of mind, providing you made the right choices in regards to the distribution of your estate.

By the way, if you have a Will in Ontario it may not be valid in another country; every situation is difference so please get legal advice. You must have an updated will wherever you have assets.

I know that we spoke last time about what can happen if you did not have Power of Attorneys in place and I will say it again, GET IT DONE! It is that simple, there is nothing else for me to say in regards to the topic. It can be the difference that you may see your children grown up, get married or live long enough to see your grand children.

I remember when I was getting married and I said that if my father did not live to give me away then I would like one of my uncles to give me away on my wedding day. My uncle passed away before I got married and my dad passed away just over 4 years after I did.

What is you excuse, why are you waiting?

Dianne Ojar-Ali is not a lawyer or Paralegal, however I have worked in the financial industry for 19 years and I do have access to lawyers. I am currently hosting FREE Wills and Power of Attorneys Workshops in Scarborough. You can contact me www.dianneojarali.com 416.855.3544 and by contacting The Caribbean Camera Newspaper.