Forever Young BC - March 2014 Mar. 2014 | Page 6

p.6 DISPATCHES foreveryoung | March 2014 JOHNSON LEGACY WEALTH MANAGEMENT Building Trust for Generations For over 40 years Johnson Legacy Wealth Management has helped families protect and enhance their wealth. 250-979-2748 Raymond James Ltd. 500 – 1726 Dolphin Ave, Kelowna, BC V1Y 9R9 www.johnsonlegacy.ca Raymond James Ltd., Member-Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Should I appoint a Professional Executor/Trustee in my Will, or a close Family Member/Friend?” An Executor/Trustee has a wide range of obligations and responsibilities to fulfill. When doing your Estate Planning and choosing an Executor/Trustee, you have a number of important considerations to keep in mind. In a nutshell, the choices available are: Corporate Trustee (like a Bank or Trust Company), a family mem- ber/friend (or more than one, named as Co-Trustees), or another willing professional you know, such as your Accountant or Lawyer. (A Bank, Trust Company, Accountant and Lawyer are referred to hereafter simply as“Professional Trustee”.) The first thing you should do, if you are in the process of making such important decisions, is to contact an estate planning lawyer to discuss the various issues involved. A good estate planning lawyer is worth more than the documents they create. Your answers to the questions asked by your estate planning lawyer, and your decision making process triggered by those questions, documented by a careful lawyer, will make all the difference in the world to your actual written plan. The planning behind the documents is what gets you the results you desire. The entity you choose to fill this role will have a big job to do. If it is a Professional Trustee, you will meet with them to go through your Estate and sign Compensation Agreements. If you are choosing a family member/friend, it is a very good idea to make them aware that you have chosen them and ensure that they are willing, comfortable and able to fill that role. Whether you are choosing an inexperienced family member/friend or a Professional Trustee, that person will be working with your beneficiaries for a significant amount of time (sometimes well over a year) as they administer your Estate and deal with your assets. It is very important that you consider the myriad of issues when deciding who your Executor/Trustee will be, a few of which are as follows: - Is the job of looking after your Estate going to be very hard on a loved one who Vanessa DeDominicis LEGAL INSIGHT has just lost YOU? This can be overwhelming to deal with, coupled with grieving, even though they may feel duty bound when you ask them to take on that role; - What about compensation? Compensating a loved one to do this job is often frowned upon by other beneficiaries who are not privy to what the role involves. They simply sit back and wait for their inheritance to come through. Considering the level of responsibility that an Executor/Trustee takes on, shouldn’t your loved one be compensated? It is highly likely that the role of Executor/Trustee will take away from the usual way your loved one makes a living. I have seen family members take on this role, only to fight with their siblings over the details, grow weary of trying to maintain family harmony, grow tired of trying to sustain their own family life/job while serving your Estate, yet deny themselves compensation. They eventually grow irritated, bitter and resentful over the thankless hours they have spent accounting and documenting and gathering Continued on page 7 Look Young, Feel Younger! JACQUELINE DAHM 1921 – 2011 SUPPORTING MEDICAL STUDENTS IN THE OKANAGAN Jacqueline Dahm expressed her passion for community with a bequest to UBC, which continues to ensure vital funding for students in the Southern Medical Program. For more information on how UBC can help you plan your lasting legacy in an area important to you, call: 250-807-8565 or visit www.startanevolution.ca/Dahm12 When I turned 50, I started experiencing hot flashes,” she says. “Then I began using Super EasyMulti™ 45+ for women. I quickly experienced a dramatic decrease in hot flashes as well as a general improved sense of well-being.” This was 5 1/2 years ago. Today she writes: “Yes, I still take the Platinum vitamins (Super EasyMulti™ 45+) and I’ve also been taking the easycal. I don’t get hot flashes other than rarely and can’t remember the last time I was ill. - D. Wood, Kitchener, Ontario The most comprehensive anti-aging multivitamin P Specially formulated for men and women 45+ P An anti-aging multivitamin with 10 supplements in 1 P Contains 60mg of CoQ10, 1,000 IU of Vitamin D and much more P Easy to absorb thanks to OST® available at your local health food stores Made with OST® to ensure you absorb all the goodness packed inside. proudly canadian www.platinumnaturals.com