To help your company stay afloat during the rough times and sustain success in the near future, implementing an estate plan can be a viable solution for all parties involved. As part of a detailed succession plan, estate planning can help you understand and manage the professional and financial assets attached to your business. At HSM, we’re an estate planning firm operating in the GTA and offer chartered accountant services in Toronto. We’re very knowledgeable in the three functions of a well-established estate plan, starting with the positive outcomes and the need for hiring a chartered professional accountant (CPA) to organize the legal documents. We’ll also go over how a legal estate plan can protect your overall investments.
What Are The Positive Outcomes Of Estate Planning?
An estate plan is essentially a collection of important documents and papers dictating how you want to protect your assets and personal property (also known as your estate). It also explains how you want to pass these assets down to the appropriate people, specifying who will honour those wishes in your absence. This in turn leads to a seamless succession of ownership and business continuity.
Some of the positive outcomes of an estate plan is that your assets will never go to unintended beneficiaries. Named persons in your documents will be the only ones to receive them, serving as a crucial safety net for preserving your business or personal finances. Estate planning can also minimize taxes associated with paying the amount to receive the inheritance.
Moreover, estate planning also gives you the say in who receives which assets and an executor will properly distribute them as specified in a will. This will help you eliminate disputes from your family or friends and minimize disagreements between them. As a result, you’ll receive some much needed peace of mind, knowing your future is safe and secure.
Why Do You Need To Hire Chartered Accountants To Sort Out All The Legal Documents Involved In Estate Planning?
With any complicated matter such as estate planning, there will always be paperwork involved that respects your goals and wishes. A chartered professional accountant can help you organize all the legal documents involved in the process. This can save you valuable time, money, and energy when distributing your assets to your beneficiaries.
The first step a CPA would do is make a list of all your key assets such as investments or houses. This will inform your executor who receives what assets. Additionally, they’ll also make a list of liabilities associated with your estate like mortgages or loans to deal with debts that need to be repaid.
A CPA will also ensure investments like RRSPs have named beneficiaries to look after it. They will directly receive money towards that investment rather than receiving it via a document or will. This helps to reduce taxes owed and payments will go to your loved ones much faster. They will also record your life insurance policy and any disability income insurance credited to your name.
As stated, the paperwork involved in estate planning can be daunting, but with a CPA’s help, the process becomes much smoother and you’ll be able to have a great business transition. These are all productive steps towards protecting your overall investments.
How Can A Legal Estate Plan Protect My Present And Future Investments?
By creating a detailed estate plan with us, we can help protect your assets now so that they can be properly passed down to your benefactors in the future. We utilize a holistic, tailored approach to your professional and personal finances to make sure they’re worth something tomorrow. It’s about making sure your successors are well prepared to run your business and that your wishes for them are respected.
Estate planning will also make sure everyone gets a fair share of what they want and no outsider gets to have a say in these matters. Our team of chartered accountants at HSM will help you get started on this endeavour and ensure you leverage your financial situation.
Get started on your estate planning today by calling us at (905)-470-7090 or contact us HERE.
