Home -> Financial Planning -> Wills & Estate Planning

	Executors have many responsibilities.
	An estate may have to register as an employer with Canada Revenue Agency.
	An individual is deemed to have disposed of all capital property immediately prior to death.
	Links to information on federal and provincial/territorial websites.

What happens to debts of the deceased?

Deemed disposition of capital property upon death

Death of a Taxpayer / Loss on Residence Sold by Estate

Income Taxes of Deceased Taxpayer

Minimize taxes of a deceased taxpayer

	Deemed disposition of capital assets
	Distribution of property to spouse or spouse trust
	Contribution to RRSP of surviving spouse
	Multiple tax returns on death
	CPP or QPP death benefit
	T3 trust return

OAS Clawback for a Deceased Taxpayer

Are gifts or inheritances taxable? - Includes information on consequences of selling capital property non-arm's length for less than fair market value

How are RRSPs and RRIFs taxed at death?

Donations in the year of death and in the will, qualified donee as beneficiary of RRSP, RRIF, TFSA or life insurance policy

Life Insurance / Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)

The Impact of Medical Assistance in Dying on Life Insurance and Some Other Mentionables - from All About Estates

Before You Die

The executor of your estate will spend countless hours performing all the tasks that need to be done after you die. To make things easier for them, and to ensure that your assets are distributed in the manner you want, make your will as clear as possible, and provide documentation for your executor and heirs. For an excellent article on this, see BDO's The Best of The Blunt Bean Counter - Estate Planning - A Tale of a Father's Selfless Act of Love.

Digital Assets

If you have:

	online accounts such as PayPal, Facebook, Google and Apple,
	owns cryptocurrency (BitCoin),
	licences or licence accounts (Amazon Kindle library, Apple iTunes, etc.) - did you know you don't own the items you purchased (unless otherwise required by law)?
	cloud based accounts (PayPal balances, cryptocurrency wallets, etc.)

then hopefully you have the information/passwords/private keys for these accounts/assets in a safe place and have let the executor of your estate know where to find the information.

Other Estate Planning Resources

Watch! Current Estate Planning Tools and Challenges

Jos Herman CPA, CA, CFP, CLU, TEP from Resources & Solutions Professional Corporation and Joseph Devaney CPA CA from Video Tax News discuss important estate planning topics and some of their challenges:

	multiple will planning
	beneficiary designations
	importance of discussing intent
	trusts
	segregated fund contracts
	annuity settlement options
	pipeline planning
	loss carry-back planning
	and more!

Digital Estate Planning on the All About Estates website, written by Dave Madan, Market Lead and Manager, Scotiatrust

Tax Tip: Plan ahead by making a will and ensuring your wishes are known.

Revised: October 29, 2024