Four documents every Ontario adult should have in place.
Four documents every Ontario adult should have in place.
Whether you’re 55 or 85, these are the papers that decide what happens if you cannot speak for yourself — and what happens after you’re gone. Without them, the province and the courts decide. With them, you do.
Give us a call at 905-973-9394 to discuss your needs with us and see how we can help.
Finances
Continuing Power of Attorney for Property
The person who pays your bills when you can’t.
Your “attorney for property” can deal with your bank accounts, pension income, investments, real estate and tax returns if illness or cognitive decline takes that ability from you. Without one, your family — including your spouse — has no automatic authority and may have to apply to court for guardianship, which is costly, slow, and public.
(Substitute Decisions Act, 1992)
Health & Care
Power of Attorney for Personal Care
The person who speaks to the doctor when you can’t.
Covers medical treatment, diet, housing and safety. This is the document that allows a trusted person to consent to admission into a long-term care home, to approve or refuse treatment, and to carry out the wishes you expressed while you were still capable. Often paired with a living will or advance care directive.
(Health Care Consent Act, 1996)
Your Wishes
Advance Care Directive or Living Will
In Ontario, a living will is not a free-standing legal instrument — but written directions about resuscitation, feeding tubes, hospital transfers and palliative preferences guide your Power of Attorney for Personal Care and your doctors, and they must take them into account under the Health Care Consent Act.
After Death
A Valid, Current Last Will & Testament
Your instructions for what you leave behind.
Names your estate trustee (executor), distributes your property, can establish trusts for minor or disabled beneficiaries, and reduces probate costs when properly structured. Without a will, Ontario’s intestacy rules under the Succession Law Reform Act decide — and those rules rarely match the family’s expectations.
(Succession Law Reform Act)
