Wills + Estates Lawyer in Burlington

A will is the foundation of many estate plans, but the planning shouldn't begin and end with a document. Your family structure, assets, business interests, children and wishes for the future all need to be considered.

We take the time to understand your circumstances before we start drafting. That often means raising questions you may not have considered yet and talking through how different decisions could affect the people you're trying to protect. The goal is to create an estate plan that reflects your actual life and intentions, rather than simply producing a technically valid document.

While your will deals with what happens after your death, powers of attorney deal with decisions that may need to be made while you're alive.

In Ontario, there are separate powers of attorney for property and personal care. Choosing who should have that authority, understanding what it allows them to do and deciding how that authority should be structured are important parts of the planning process.

We'll explain how the documents work and help you think carefully about who you're appointing and what you want those people to be able to do on your behalf.

Having children is often the point when making a will moves from something you've been meaning to do to something that feels much more important.

Parents of minor children need to think about who they would want to care for their children and how assets intended for those children should be managed. These can feel like difficult decisions before you start talking about them, but the process is usually much more manageable once the conversation begins.

We'll walk you through the issues that need to be considered and put the appropriate documents in place for your family.

The other side of this practice begins after someone has died.

If you've been named executor, legally called an Estate Trustee in Ontario, you may suddenly find yourself responsible for bank accounts, investments, property, tax matters, beneficiaries and a considerable amount of paperwork while you're also dealing with the loss itself.

Fieldstone Law assists estate trustees through the administration of an estate, including applications for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, dealing with real estate and other assets, beneficiary matters and estate accounts. We can also assist families when someone has died without a will.

If you're an executor and don't know where to begin, that's a perfectly reasonable place to begin the conversation with us.