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What is AfterMatters?
For those who think and write about challenges leading up to death and afterwards, there are many positive stories, some funny and many sad ones, and there are also a lot of challenges. And there are huge economic and social costs to having: o Hundreds of millions of dollars in estate assets out of circulation for years as estates settle; o Residential family homes sitting empty during a housing accessibility and affordability crisis; and o A s much as a $1 billion productivity drag as executors struggle to settle estates on top of their “real jobs.” |
More, there is significant government and court time spent when there are efficiencies to be had. And beyond these expenses are the human, emotional, and fraud costs: We must make it easier for people coping with incapacity and death to get back to their regular daily lives and grieve their loss without being tripped up at every turn by the system. Even lawyers whose stock in trade is making money from estates know this and want change. A number of us want to work with people in the private, institutional and public sectors to make things a little easier. Here's a little bit about who we are and what we're doing. Email us at [email protected] if you've got ideas and want to get involved.
Media
November 7, 2025: Media Release - AfterMatters Support Federal 2025 Budget Measures to combat financial abuse and fraud
July 29, 2025: Opinion: Clients who act as executors or powers of attorney need training - The argument for a personal fiduciary certificate program (Investment Executive)
November 7, 2025: Media Release - AfterMatters Support Federal 2025 Budget Measures to combat financial abuse and fraud
- Le 7 novembre 2025 : Communiqué de presse - AfterMatters appuie les mesures du budget fédéral 2025 visant à lutter contre les abus financiers et la fraude
July 29, 2025: Opinion: Clients who act as executors or powers of attorney need training - The argument for a personal fiduciary certificate program (Investment Executive)
Our letters
August 28, 2025: AfterMatters Response to Federal Government Request for Pre-Budget Recommendations: Fiscally Neutral Way to Improve Income Outcomes for Second Spouse to Die
May 12, 2025: Letter to Ontario MPP requesting Meeting on Family-Friendly Bureaucracy Reforms
March 6, 2025: Response to Ontario Consumer Protection Act Consultation Paper
August 28, 2025: AfterMatters Response to Federal Government Request for Pre-Budget Recommendations: Fiscally Neutral Way to Improve Income Outcomes for Second Spouse to Die
May 12, 2025: Letter to Ontario MPP requesting Meeting on Family-Friendly Bureaucracy Reforms
March 6, 2025: Response to Ontario Consumer Protection Act Consultation Paper
Our proposals
August 7, 2025: A Simple, Cost-Effective Way to Protect At-Risk Beneficiaries – Personal Fiduciary Certificates
August 7, 2025: Lifting Canadian Seniors Out of Poverty – A Fiscally-Neutral Way to Enhance CPP Survivor Benefits
August 7, 2025: A Simple, Cost-Effective Way to Protect At-Risk Beneficiaries – Personal Fiduciary Certificates
August 7, 2025: Lifting Canadian Seniors Out of Poverty – A Fiscally-Neutral Way to Enhance CPP Survivor Benefits
Tools
- PoARegistry.ca: With the different types and numbers of powers of attorney (PoAs) that exist today, both lawyer-made and others (such as bank-form, hospital one, and others), family members, professionals, and institutions often can't be sure if a PoA is valid or has been revoked, and if the person presenting themselves with a PoA is really authorized to make decisions, creating at best delays and at worse serious risks of fraud, financial exploitation, and conflicts. The POA Registry is a single, secure source for the storage and validation of PoAs.
- Canadian Centre for Decision-Making Capacity: This website is dedicated to developing a reliable way to ensure substitute decisionmaking is assumed (a power of attorney is exercised) at the right time (while PoARegistry.ca aims to ensure a PoA is the most recent and will be exercised by the right person).
- The Grief Tax - a 2025 Research Report: This recent study by Empathy quantifies costs of what we are calling death bureaucracy. A Grief Tax is the financial, logistical, and emotional toll that grief takes on those suffering loss, including having to act as an executor.
- EstateHelp Ontario - where to go for probate when someone dies: Cambridge (Ontario) wills and estates lawyer Max Shiffman saw a problem and developed a simple free online solution to help individuals and their legal advisors (and even Court staff themselves!) to identify the correct Ontario Court location for a particular estate. Simply enter the deceased’s last known address, and the tool determines the appropriate court based on this residence. Not only that, it provides the Court address (and maps it), as well as the correct e-mail and phone number. (added August 6, 2025).
- Personal Fiduciary Course with Certificate - making sure those you entrust with your life and death know what to do: Are you giving someone your power of attorney (PoA) for care or for property? Are you a willmaker and want to make sure your executor gets off on the right foot? Ask (and pay for) the person you are naming to take the two-hour Personal Fiduciary Certificate (or credible equivalent) so they understand their role. This is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself, your beneficiaries, and the person you name as PoA or executor.
Ideas for making things better
[to come]
[to come]