Multiple wills | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

I am not a lawyer but it is my understanding that more than one will can be written if each wil covers a different group of assets, at least in Ontario.
However, this will not avoid probate per se.
Probate, literally, is the "proving" of the validity of a will, which can only be done through a court process. Anything that goes through that process must normally pay the probate tax. Registered plans with named suitable beneficiaries do not have to go through this process. You can't assign a beneficiary on a non-registered GIC; and FIs won't allow it.

Why would you want to avoid probate? It protects the deceased and the executor. Or is it that you really just want to avoid paying the tax?

Personally, I think all assets held by spouses should be free of probate tax until the second spouse dies. But it doesn't work that way. Thus, while we can, theoretically, have 300K in non-reg'd savings/GICs at a bank with CDIC coverage in 2 individual plus 1 joint account, 100K of it is going to be subject to probate when the first spouse dies, and all of it when the second one dies.

hotmony said
I mean people who put private corporate shares into the second will to avoid probate e.g. sherman apotex. Can gics be put into a second will to avoid probate? Doesn't seem like it
…

If the GIC is $100, the issuer may not insist that the will be probated.

For a more significant $50,000 GIC, the issuer would want the legal protection that comes with accepting instructions from an executor appointed by a probated will. Otherwise, the issuer would have to pay out the $50,000 again to the rightful heir should the unprobated will later be found not to be the deceased's last valid will.

hotmony said
Probate is a tax grab
Why don't they probate gics each time they mature  

It's the will that gets probated, not the assets, like the GIC's.

Probate isn't much, compared to the cost of some of the things people attempt to avoid it. About 1½% in Ontario. In Alberta, it is $25 to $400. In Québec, it's free for a notarial will and around $200 for a non-notarial will.

Hotmoney, what province are you in?

Here's some reading for BC.

https://beaconlaw.ca/strategies-to-avoid-probate-fees/

If you have significant GICs and other assets, you could open a trust and that avoids probate. It can cost a couple thousand dollars to open, but you can funnel all sorts of financial assets into it. Make sure the savings are worth the cost.

Talk to a professional if you want to open one.

The only big downside to a trust is the "setting it up time and cost" and of course, the fact that the assets you put in the trust are not yours anymore, unless you make yourself the administer of the trust, and you can withdraw assets from the trust as long as the withdrawn assets are reasonably used to benefit the beneficiary(s) in some way. The assets can still be managed in the trust, but if you want to buy yourself a new Harley, don't expect you can use those trust assets.

So, if you, personally, aren't going to need to use the assets, a trust is an excellent way to skip probate. If you want access to the assets for possible personal costs, then it's not good. It's around 2k to open a trust, but talk to a professional to get everything spelled out.