Why a will, and will charities get what you give?

Day 3 of Make-a-Will-Month. Chances are you are, or the person beside you is, will-less. While numbers have changed given a Covid boost and more online options, a survey conducted by Tim Hewson of LegalWills showed 62% of Canadians don't have a will and nearly 12% have an out-of-date one. Out of date could mean anything from a few tweaks are needed to a will so obsolete it's invalid (say, after remarriage or with improper witnessing, unclear language, missing signatures, or improper alterations).

People gave the following reasons for having no will (2023 Angus Reid Poll):
🙈 42%: they’re too young or have too few assets
🙉 24%: it's too expensive or too time-consuming
🙊 10%: don’t want to think about death or discuss details with a stranger
😱 24%: other.

In a nutshell, people think wills are complicated, costly, and consume time they just don’t have. The truth is the most basic wills are simple, cheap, take less time, and are less painful than a trip to the dentist. As soon as someone reaches the age of majority, however little they have in assets, they need a will, if only to simplify things for family or others they care about. There are now free or affordable services to quickly create wills online that are much better than the old paper kits and much better than nothing at all.

TIP: Complete an online will – if you have a simple situation, it’s quick, cheap, and easy to update. If your situation is more complicated, it provides excellent information that you’ll need and the questions you’ll need to think about before asking a lawyer to prepare a formal will. For how to decide where you fit on the simple-to-complicated spectrum, see https://lnkd.in/gA5qhDNW.

If there’s no valid will, among the biggest losers are CHARITIES: intestacy laws don’t recognize them. The biggest winner may be someone the willmaker is estranged from or, if no heirs can be found, the Crown itself.

TASKS to help bulletproof a will when it comes to charities?
1️⃣ Make sure any charity is correctly named with information including registration number and contacts.
2️⃣ Check the charity retains its registered status and remains worthy of your money. Just because a charity is big doesn’t make it good, as Charity Intelligence Canada says (https://lnkd.in/geUNyTdf). That’s because each year charitable status is revoked when audits reveal financial mismanagement/non-compliance or repeated failures to file information. Do a little more digging because the CRA Charities Directorate can’t suspend a charity or notify donors of an audit until it makes a final decision (British law allows prominent publication of a charity being under investigation).
3️⃣ Understand that ambiguities regarding charitable intentions may be left to the court to interpret… and other estate beneficiaries may be interested in seeing such gifts challenged.
4️⃣ Provide alternates in case the original gift cannot be completed.

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