Estate Planning Ontario: 68% of Wealth Bypasses the Will

Most estate planning advice starts with the will. That's the wrong end of the problem. Of everything Ontario households aged 65 and over own, only about 32% sits in the kinds of assets a will actually governs (Statistics Canada, Survey of Financial Security, 2023). The rest moves on a beneficiary form you signed at a bank counter, or on how the title to your home is registered. Your will never sees it. This video walks through which document wins when two of them disagree, and why most plans fail from a contradiction rather than a missing signature. 📄 Full written guide, with every statute cited: olanur.com/blog/estate-planning-ontario/ ⚖️ WHAT CHANGED RECENTLY IN ONTARIO • Since 1 January 2022, getting married no longer revokes an existing will • Since the same date, a qualifying separation cancels gifts to that spouse, the way a divorce already did • Since 11 December 2025, beneficiary designations can be made electronically, and an attorney under a continuing power of attorney can re-sign one when a plan is transferred 🔑 FIVE THINGS MOST PEOPLE GET WRONG • An RRSP, RRIF or TFSA with a living named beneficiary never enters the estate, whatever the will says (Succession Law Reform Act, ss. 51 and 53) • On a workplace pension, a surviving spouse ranks ahead of the person you named (Pension Benefits Act, s. 48) • Adding an adult child to a bank account is presumed to be held in trust for your estate, not gifted to them (Pecore v. Pecore, 2007 SCC 1 • A guardian named in your will lapses after 90 days unless that person applies to court (Children's Law Reform Act, s. 61(7)) • Without a power of attorney for personal care, a ranked list decides your treatment, and two children who disagree hand it to the Public Guardian and Trustee (Health Care Consent Act, s. 20) 📚 SOURCES Succession Law Reform Act: ww90s26 Substitute Decisions Act, 1992: www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/92s30 Health Care Consent Act, 1996: www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/96h02 Pension Benefits Act: www.ont Children's Law Reform Act: www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90c12 Pecore v. Pecore, 2007 SCC 17: decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2355/index.do Statistics Canada, Survey of Financial Security: www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110001601 👋 ABOUT OLANUR Olanur is a technology platform that matches people with verified Canadian lawyers, free. We are not a law firm and we don't give legal advice. If you'd like an estates lawyer to review your documents rather than draft a single one: olanur.com/find-a-lawyer/will ⚠️ This video is general information 26, not legal advice, and watching itdoesn't create a lawyer-client relationship. Statutes change and every estate is different. A licensed lawyer can advise on your ow #EstatePlanning #OntarioLaw #WillsAndEstates