I can speak from personal experience recently, as I had some extended elderly relatives pass away (out of province!) . I was reminded again how important it is to have your family and loved ones well informed surrounding the details of your estate.

I know young people often feel like “they shouldn’t ask” about wills and estate planning, but I am here to tell you it’s an important one.

The highlight of my seminar introduced a non registered account that is exclusively offered at RBC Dominion Securities. In certain situations, yes…….. this account allows your estate to by-pass probate.

Below is my letter to explain how it works:

Remember back when bankers and lawyers would recommend that neat trick where you add your adult children on to your accounts so that you can avoid paying probate tax? Well, RBC Dominion Securities has really made some improvements on how that works.

Our firm has a new account called the Joint Account with Gift of Beneficial Right of Survivorship (JGBRS). There are multiple scenarios and opportunities for non-registered assets to now be passed along to beneficiaries without being subject to probate fees.

For years, I have always advised clients that probate was a small part of the tax consequences upon death of a surviving spouse. The real impact of course being the capital gains tax. With this new account, the probate portion can now be by-passed, provided a few conditions are met. The capital gains tax remains as do income attribution rules. However, on sizable non-registered accounts the savings on probate fees can be quite worthwhile.

This account has a few limitations including:

• There cannot be a Power of Attorney in place when account is opened.
• The client must be a Canadian citizen. (Sorry, cannot name a charity as beneficiary.)

The ideal clients for this account are:

• Single clients with a straight forward will. Assets usually being passed to 1 or 2 adult children.
• Married couples should learn about this account now too, because eventually one of the spouses will be widowed. It might not work now, but likely will down the road.
• Younger clients that inherit money who are reluctant to place it in a Joint Account for risk of marriage breakdown. This new account allows such clients to pass along that inheritance only in the event of their death.

So for my “single” seniors and any investors that are inheriting money you should give us a call to see if it would help you.

This account is not for every situation but should at least be considered. We would also be happy to have a discussion with your lawyer to explain how it works. As I said, it’s new.

And nope, no difference on fees or account restrictions. It just makes great “cents!”