Importance of having a will
Please click Podcast listen to Cantonese interview
There is a recent case happened that a BC resident passed at the age of 62 without a will. Her husband then asked wife's sister to help prepared a will because the couple didn't have children. The problem is the husband didn't sign it before he died a year after. All of the couple's possessions are now in the custody of the Public Guardian & Trustee of B.C., which is searching for the husband's overseas distant blood relatives but no relatives are found. The couple didn't have a huge pile of assets but had some life insurance money, investments in the bank, paintings & jewelries. Now the wife's family faces the prospect of buying back family heirlooms including jewelries that the wife inherited from her mother from public auction.
20% of B.C. residents' over 55 don't have a will, a number that rises to 51% among those between the ages of 35 & 54 according to recent poll study. Only half of the adults have a will. It is particularly important if you have acquired assets such as real estate.
New legislative changes pending to regulations around wills by Sept 1st, 2011.
1) One of these changes affects the amounts granted to the surviving spouse in cases where there is no will. Under existing law, the surviving spouse is entitled to the first $65,000, with the balance divided between the spouse and the couple's children. That minimum will be increased to $300,000 under the new law, or $150,000 in cases where the deceased has children that are not also the surviving spouse's
2) pending change is the minimum age at which somebody can have a will, which moves from 19 to 16. Some younger people under 19 are acquiring substantial assets
3) 3rd changes involve representation agreements, which are powerful documents that cover health care treatment and other end-of-life wishes, he said. The agreements allow a person to appoint someone else to make decisions for them if they are unable to make decisions themselves, and permit the appointment of a monitor as a check on the representative's activities.
More information on the Sept. 1 changes will be published that day on the Public Guardian and Trustee of B.C. website (trustee. bc.ca), to the Public Guardian's office.
The information will be posted in the Financial and Personal Care Services for Adults category under the Incapacity Planning
Tina Mak Personal Real Estate Corporation
Vancouver Radio Realtor AM1320
www.TinaMak.com
www.Tina Mak.ca 温哥华中文地產網站
www.GenYrealestate.ca
604-412-5860
Empowering Knowledge To Make Sensible Decision
