Families Planning a Legacy
You’ve worked hard to build a life for your family. We help ensure that when wealth passes to the next generation, your family and the charities you care about receive the full benefit.
Most families don’t realize how much of their wealth is exposed until something forces the question. Registered accounts, family properties, and investment holdings all carry deferred tax obligations that come due at the worst possible moment – death, incapacity, or a forced sale. Without a coordinated plan, your family inherits the tax problem alongside the assets.
Your family shouldn’t have to figure out your finances in the middle of their grief.
What families don't see coming
The tax obligations hiding inside the structures you've already built.
Registered Accounts
Your RRSP, RRIF, and LIRA are not passed to your family the way most people assume. On death, the full value is included as income on your final tax return – unless it transfers to a surviving spouse. A $900,000 RRIF can generate a tax bill exceeding $450,000 in a single year. If your spouse has already passed, the estate pays the tax before anyone inherits a dollar.
We help families align beneficiary designations, spousal rollover provisions, and drawdown timing to reduce the final tax hit and ensure the assets reach the right people efficiently.
Family Property
The family cottage, a rental property, or a second home – every property beyond your principal residence is subject to deemed disposition at death. A cottage purchased decades ago for $450,000 and now worth $1.2 million can trigger a six-figure tax liability your family never anticipated. And because only one property per family can be designated as a principal residence in any given year, families with multiple properties face a forced choice about which gains to shelter.
We work with your tax and legal advisors to structure ownership, designations, and transfer strategies so the property stays in the family without the tax bill forcing a sale.
Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Probate
An outdated will is not just a legal gap – it is a financial one. In Ontario, assets that flow through your estate are subject to Estate Administration Tax at 1.5% on everything above $50,000. On a $2 million estate, that’s $30,000 before your family sees anything. Add outdated powers of attorney or missing alternate designations, and the cost of inaction compounds quickly.
We help families coordinate their estate documents alongside their financial plan – identifying where a dual-will strategy, beneficiary updates, or ownership adjustments can reduce probate exposure and ensure your instructions are executable.
Providing for the Next Generation
Leaving wealth to your children sounds simple until you consider the details. An outright inheritance to a child in a vulnerable marriage could become a matrimonial asset. A bequest to a young adult with no financial experience could disappear in a few years. And treating children equally doesn’t always mean treating them fairly.
We help families think through how wealth is received, not just how much – whether that means a testamentary trust, staged distributions, or protective provisions designed around your family’s real circumstances.
Estate tax & transfer
Know the number before your family has to pay it.
Most families have never calculated the total tax liability triggered when the second spouse dies – registered accounts, investment properties, and corporate holdings all stacking in a single tax year. We quantify that exposure, model different scenarios, and work with your CPA and estate lawyer to reduce the liability and ensure there is liquidity to cover what remains.
A clear picture of the exposure
The combined deemed disposition across every asset class – so your family knows the number before it arrives.
Liquidity to cover the obligation
Insurance, drawdown strategies, and beneficiary coordination so the tax bill doesn’t force your family to sell assets under pressure.
We connect the pieces your family’s advisors are building separately.
Your accountant files the returns. Your lawyer drafts the will. Your financial advisor manages the portfolio. But no one is asking whether the beneficiary designation on your RRSP contradicts your will, whether your cottage ownership creates an unintended tax problem, or whether your insurance actually matches the liability it’s supposed to fund. Our role is to make sure every piece works as part of one plan.
You built this life. Make sure your family keeps it.
From registered accounts to family property, we coordinate the estate planning process, working with your tax and legal professionals to keep more in your family’s hands. Start with a conversation.
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