Wills Week helps you leave the legacy you choose

A message from Edmonton Community Foundation:

If making a will feels like thinking about death, you might understandably get stuck, even if you know how important it is to have such a document.

But what if you reframe it in terms of ensuring a smooth succession? That can make it feel more positive, suggests Patty Ko, a lawyer specializing in wills, estates, and trusts at Field Law.

"Instead of just focusing on the part where you say, 'I am going to be gone,' you can perhaps focus on the part where you go, 'OK, but someone will be succeeding me. I'm looking after the people who are here now and will be here afterwards,'" she says.

Getting over that hurdle matters, because you're ceding an awful lot of control and passing on a ton of hassle if you don't leave a will. In that case, an estate is distributed according to provincial legislation instead of a person's own wishes.

"The legislation doesn't necessarily … account for everything that your particular unique situation might call for," Ko says, and it adds procedural and administrative hurdles for family members already dealing with grief.

Sometimes people think they're too young or too poor to need a will, but that's not so, says Ko. Most of us underestimate how much we own and how much needs a decision made about it. And few of us know when the last day will come, so it's best to be prepared.

A will is not the whole picture, either. You should also have a personal directive, designating someone to make personal decisions for you if you become incapacitated, as well as an enduring power of attorney, so that someone can make financial decisions for you if you can't. "I almost view those documents as … even more important than the will," Ko says, since they affect you while you are still alive.

Another source of big feelings around wills is anticipating — and perhaps avoiding — conflict. But if you talk to your intended executor and beneficiaries ahead of time, you'll often find that matters aren't as thorny as you thought. For example, Ko has seen families brace for conflict over an asset like a cabin, only to find that one sibling wants it and the others are happy to let it go, resolving what looked like a looming dispute before it ever started.

Above all, Ko says, just start. It gives you time to look after the people and causes you care about, whether that means family, friends, or a charitable legacy.

To help with your estate planning, Edmonton Community Foundation is presenting Wills Week from Oct. 5 to 9. Ko will deliver a talk on Wills & Estates 101 at Daisy Chain Book Co. on Oct. 8, and that's just one of several online and in-person sessions on wills, executorship, and estate planning, all of them free of charge.