Your Assets, Exactly Where You Want Them
The sole purpose of Succession and Estate Planning is to make sure your assets, end up with the right people.
Not CRA.
Not ex-spouses of anyone in the family.
Not your son’s ex-wife’s, ex-husband’s children, and so on (trust us, this happens).
Without proper planning, families can be forced to sell the assets they want to keep, often at the worst times, such as death and divorce. These are times families need to be supporting each other, not deciding what they have to sell.
We ensure your estate or assets are transferred in the most tax efficient way possible, so your family and your favourite charities are taken care of in the following three ways:
1 Asset Protection From Life Events
Good estate planning allows you and your spouse retire while maintaining your current lifestyle, and transferring the full value of your assets to your beneficiaries at the time that you pass.
It also secures your assets in the case of severe sickness. You’ll have cash available to focus on care, while your legacy is protected for your family.
2 Asset Protection From Taxes
When transferring assets, tax owed can become a large problem. Without proper structures, planning, and insurance your family may be attracting increased exposure to tax, and worst case, be subject to double taxation.
Without access to immediate cash, your family may be forced to sell assets they wanted to keep in the family, just to pay the taxes owed on those assets.
3 Asset Protection From People
When you’ve worked hard to build your company and assets, you don’t want them to end up with the wrong people.
Divorces, remarriages, and new marriages can cause assets to end up in the wrong place than originally intended. The people you wanted to take care of, don’t receive what you wanted them to.
Taking care of all the loose ends makes it easy for your family to come together when you pass, instead of being at war over who got what.
When people are involved, every scenario is a little different, but common challenges to be addressed include:
The spouse of the current owner doesn’t have financial savvy, or any interest in running the business. They inherit the business when the owner passes, creating a scenario for selling the company below market value. This puts the children’s future inheritance in jeopardy.
There is a key person at the company who the owner intended to take over, but the business but wasn’t set up to do so. The key person doesn’t have the cash to buy the company at fair market value.
The owner has remarried and their new spouse has children of their own. Those children could have future claim on the company and assets.
One child of the owner is active in the business, but another child is not. This becomes a complicated situation when the parents pass. One child may get the business, while the other feels they aren’t getting a fair share of the assets.
One of the children of the owners gets divorced. The ex-spouse of this child could end up owning up to 25% of the company. Awkward.
How We Protect Your Assets
Our Estate Planning process includes collaboration with your legal and accounting team.
Our role is:
- Tax Planning. Estimate your current and future tax exposures in different scenarios.
- Identifying the structure needed. Our team helps determine the best solution to your unique goals and situation.
- Implementing your estate and financial plan. We take care of the details so you can relax knowing all loose ends are tied up.
Let Us Help You Protect Your Assets
Our tax team and estate planning group advise the most successful entrepreneurs in Canada. We are at the forefront of innovative planning techniques, tax minimization solutions and estate planning strategies.
We’d love the opportunity to have a conversation to see how we can help complement your wealth planning to allow you to enjoy more of your life today, while protecting your retirement and your family when you pass.