What do I need to know about what I own before I make a will?

What a will actually controls

A will disposes of whatever you own in your own name alone at death, once your debts, funeral costs and taxes are paid. That includes real estate held in your sole name, bank and investment accounts without a named beneficiary, personal belongings, and any interest in a business that isn't otherwise assigned by a shareholders' or partnership agreement.

It does not control property that already has a destination under a different rule of law. Sorting the two apart before you draft anything saves confusion later, both for you and for whoever administers the estate.

Assets that bypass the will

Property held in joint tenancy passes automatically to the surviving owner by right of survivorship, whatever the will says. RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs and life insurance policies pass to whoever is named on a valid beneficiary designation, a right created separately under Part III of the Succession Law Reform Act.

A will can still matter here: naming your estate as beneficiary brings the asset back under the will, and a will can sometimes revoke an earlier designation if it says so clearly. Left alone, the designation controls over anything the will says about that specific asset.

Debts do not disappear at death

Your estate pays your debts before anyone receives a distribution, from whatever assets pass through the will. A mortgage continues against the property that secures it; a beneficiary who inherits mortgaged real estate normally takes it subject to that debt unless the will directs otherwise.

Debts held jointly, such as a joint line of credit, generally become the survivor's sole responsibility, separate from the estate. Listing what you owe, and how each debt is held, is as useful to your executor as listing what you own.

Digital and hard-to-find assets

Cryptocurrency, online accounts, domain names, loyalty points, and subscriptions rarely come with paper. If no one knows they exist, an executor cannot administer them, and some are lost outright once an account lapses.

A short, separately stored list of what exists and where, kept apart from the will since it becomes a public document once probated, gives your executor somewhere to start without exposing account details in a court filing.

Turning the list into something useful

A simple inventory, organized by category, real estate, accounts, business interests, debts, and digital assets, does most of the preparation work before you ever discuss the will's actual terms. It also becomes the starting point for your executor after you die, or for anyone administering your estate if a will is later found invalid.

Bring it to your first meeting rather than trying to remember everything out loud; it shortens the meeting and reduces what gets missed.

We check the finished list against the will to make sure nothing you own is missed, and flag anything that needs its own instruction.