You've spent decades building something. A home. A retirement. A family that knows where they belong when they gather. Estate planning at this stage of life isn't about imagining the worst. It's about making sure the life you built is passed on the way you intended.
And yet, for many Canadians over 65, the paperwork hasn't quite kept pace with the life. One Canadian survey found 53% of Canadians don't have a will, including many who have significant assets, grandchildren, and wishes they've never formally recorded. (Narrative Research)
If that's you, or if your estate documents exist but haven't been looked at in years, this checklist is for you.
Why now matters more than ever
At 65 and beyond, the stakes of "we'll deal with it later" are higher. Your financial picture is likely more complex than it was at 45: a mix of registered and non-registered accounts, a pension, perhaps a property or two, and a family that may include adult children, grandchildren, a second marriage, or both.
The tax implications are also real. As RRSPs and RRIFs continue to grow, the eventual tax bill grows with them. Decisions made now, not later, are the ones that still leave you with choices.
Your wealth advisor can help coordinate the financial pieces alongside your legal professionals, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Step 1: The "Core Four" documents and roles If you only do one thing this season, make it this.
1) A valid will + the right executor
Consider a family where one spouse passes unexpectedly, and the will is twenty years old, drafted before a move, before grandchildren, before a cottage was purchased. The family spends months untangling what was meant versus what was written. It's a common situation and an entirely avoidable one.
Checklist:
- Do you have a current, legally valid will?
- Does it reflect your life today: your family, your assets, your wishes?
- Have you named a primary executor and an alternate?
2) Power of Attorney for property (financial decisions)
This document names someone to manage your finances if you're ever unable to do so yourself, whether due to illness, injury, or cognitive decline. Without it, even a loving family member may face legal hurdles to help you.
Checklist:
- Have you appointed someone you trust to make financial decisions on your behalf?
- Have you named a backup, in case your first choice is unavailable?
- Does that person know where the document is?
3) Power of Attorney for personal care (health decisions)
This goes beyond finances. It names the person who speaks for you about your medical care, your living situation, and your values, when you no longer can.
Checklist:
- Have you named a substitute decision-maker for healthcare?
- Have you had a conversation about what you actually want, not just signed the form?
4) A "Where things are" map
This is the quiet, unglamorous document that families are most grateful for. One page, or a small folder, that tells your executor and loved ones where to find everything: accounts, insurance, passwords, the name of your lawyer, and where the will is kept.
Checklist:
- Does your named attorney and executor know where to find your key documents?
- Is there a list of accounts, insurance policies, and key contacts?
- Have you included digital access (or at least flagged that it exists)?
Families who have this document in place describe the difference it makes. Families who don't often spend the first weeks of grief in administrative chaos.
Step 2: Beneficiaries, registered accounts, and insurance
A will is essential, but it doesn't automatically control everything.
RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, pension plans, and life insurance policies may pass outside of your estate if they reflect beneficiary designations made years ago. Those designations may still name a former spouse, a deceased individual, or simply reflect a family structure that no longer exists.
Checklist:
- Are your RRSP/RRIF/LIF beneficiaries up to date?
- Have you named successor annuitants where appropriate?
- Are your TFSA and life insurance beneficiaries current and intentional?
- Have you considered roles you currently act on? For example, are you an RESP subscriber or oversee an ITF account?
- Have you checked for mismatches after any major life change (remarriage, divorce, a death in the family, a new grandchild)?
- Do you have minor beneficiaries and the need to appoint a trustee to oversee their bequest?
This is an often-overlooked area, and one that is often straightforward to address once identified.
Step 3: Liquidity and "first-week expenses"
When someone passes, there are immediate bills to pay before the estate is settled. Funeral costs, legal fees, utilities, and mortgage payments. Even families with significant assets sometimes find themselves scrambling for accessible cash in those first weeks.
Checklist:
- Is there enough accessible money to cover immediate expenses, not just assets on paper?
- Do your loved ones know which accounts will be accessible right away, and which may be temporarily frozen?
This isn't a morbid conversation. It's a practical one, the kind that prevents unnecessary stress at the hardest possible moment.
Step 4: Tax awareness: the longer you wait, the fewer choices you have
You don't need to become a tax expert. But at this stage, a few blind spots can quietly become expensive ones.
Checklist:
- Have you estimated your potential final tax bill, including capital gains on real estate or investments that have grown significantly?
- If you have a spouse, do you understand the automatic rollover opportunities available, where they make sense and perhaps where they do not?
- Is your RRIF trajectory on your radar? The larger your registered accounts grow, the larger the eventual tax hit, and early planning still leaves options open.
- Have you explored whether certain trust structures might be appropriate in your situation?
A common planning issue among Canadians over 65 is waiting too long to address a growing RRIF. By the time it becomes urgent, the window for meaningful planning has often narrowed.
Step 5: Family complexity, where "simple" becomes not simple
Every family is different. A generic checklist can't know yours, but it can prompt the right questions.
Checklist:
- Blended family or second marriage: Is your plan clear about what goes where? "Fair" and "equal" may mean different things to different people in your family.
- Grandchildren: Are there gifts or bequests you want to make intentionally, rather than leaving it to chance?
- A cottage or shared property: Who inherits it? Who pays for upkeep? What happens if siblings disagree? These conversations are easier now than later.
- Cross-border connections: U.S. ties, foreign property, dual citizenship. These situations require specialized advice that standard estate planning often misses.
- A beneficiary with special needs: Have you considered or explored planning to protect their eligibility for government support?
Step 6: Digital life and document access
Your estate includes more than bank accounts. Online accounts, a lifetime of photos, subscriptions, perhaps a business or side income with a digital footprint: all of it deserves a plan.
Checklist:
- Is there a secure list of your digital assets and how to access them?
- Does your executor know that a digital life exists, and how to find it?
- Are your key documents stored somewhere your executor can actually reach?
Step 7: The annual review, so it doesn't become a 10-year problem
Estate planning isn't a one-time task. Life moves, and your plan should move with it.
Review after a change in relationship status, death in the family, new beneficiaries or beneficiary needs, a property purchase or sale, a business change, a significant shift in your assets, updated passwords, new or changed 2-Factor Authentications for all digital assets, or a move to a new province or country (rules differ across Canada). (Canada.ca)
Even without a trigger, a simple annual check-in with your advisor keeps things from drifting quietly out of date.
A simple "Start This Weekend" plan
You don't have to do everything at once. Here's a 30-minute starting point:
- Write down your executor and two POA choices, even before any paperwork is filed
- Make a list of all assets, liabilities, investment accounts, insurance policies, and where your documents live
- Check your beneficiary designations: what exists, and what may be outdated
- Book the conversation with your advisor and a legal professional
That's it. You're not finishing the puzzle. You're turning the lights on, and that matters more than most people realize.
A note for families having this conversation together
If you're an adult child of a parent who hasn't done this yet, you're not alone in finding it hard to bring up. And if you're a parent who hasn't wanted to burden your family with it, consider that the burden of not having it done is often heavier.
The best time to have this conversation is before anyone needs to...
The best estate plan is the one your family is aware of and can understand.
Not the binder nobody can find. Not the one with a beneficiary who passed away ten years ago. Not the plan that exists in good intentions but not on paper.
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