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Too Many Canadians Dont Have Wills
Estate Planning 101

Too Many Canadians Don’t Have Wills in Place — Here’s How We Can Change That

Half of Canadians (who really should have a Will) don’t have one. Luckily, it's never been easier, faster, and more affordable to make a Will.

A cautionary tale from the musician Prince

Prince died without a Will and it took six long years to sort out his estate. For his family left behind, it was six unnecessary years of:

  • Time and effort wrapping up his affairs (paying taxes, closing accounts, etc. etc.)

  • Tension among others vying for a portion of the estate

  • Courtroom battles

  • Legal fees

Because here’s the thing: Wills ultimately aren’t for the person who died. They’re for the loved ones left behind – those who need clarity and guidance in the midst of grieving.

While there are many repercussions of dying without a Will, one of the biggest is sacrificing your sense of control. Maybe Price would have wanted a friend or an ex-partner or his nieces and nephews to inherit a share of his estate? They’ll never know, because he didn’t make a Will.

Making a Will is the single most important thing you can do to protect the ones you love most. Because a Will isn’t really about the things you’re leaving behind, it’s about people.

Half of Canadians are currently in the same position

We can probably all agree that Prince’s situation is far from ideal. No one would ever consciously decide to put their family through the same thing. Yet, it’s an unfortunate and somewhat scary reality that the majority of Canadians could. Because according to the latest data, 51% of Canadian adults don’t have a Will at all and 15% have a Will that is out-of-date.

This is alarming considering how simple modern estate planning has become

There are so many reasons people put off making a Will. While some of these reasons are more psychological, such as the fear of death, the majority of these reasons stem from the inconveniences from an outdated version of estate planning.

Let’s say you’ve decided you’re ready to make a Will.

Traditionally, you would have to:

  • Leave your house and physically go to a lawyers office, likely having to take time off work

  • Navigate through documents filled with legal jargon

  • Pay anywhere from $400 to several-thousand dollars (depending on the complexity) to draw up the original Will

  • Pay an additional $250 an hour whenever you need to update it (so any time you buy a property, have another child, increase your wealth, or even adopt a pet)

  • Wait weeks to months to receive your documents

But lucky for all of us, the process of making a Will looks very different today than it did 20 years ago.

Today, you would:

  • Create a legally-binding Will online, from the comfort of your home in as little as 20 minutes

  • Complete an intuitive, simple questionnaire

  • Pay under $200 to do it – one time only, no matter how many updates you make

  • Print it off on the spot or get a shipped copy straight away

So it’s actually a lot easier than you might think.

We’re on a mission to democratize the estate planning process

Something as important as planning for the future and protecting your family shouldn’t be so difficult. At Epilogue, we want to provide a better way to make a Will, so more people can do it.

My co-founder Arin and I used to be estate lawyers. We saw a lot of people struggling through making a Will the old way. All these people knew they needed a Will, they just didn’t have the time, money, or knowledge to get started. So they put it off to deal with later…

But when we started having families of our own, we realized first hand that people can’t wait for later. Because there’s nothing more important than making sure your loved ones are taken care of, especially if you’re a parent.

So, we traded their suits for slippers and started Epilogue – a place where anyone can get started on a Will in a matter of minutes…and in your slippers!

Find peace of mind, protect your assets and most importantly, protect your loved ones with a Will from Epilogue today. Let us help you create the documents you need, so you can relax and get back to whatever it is you’d rather be doing.

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