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Estates and Trusts

Plan the management and the distribution of your assets, your way.

One Can Never Be Too Prepared

You work hard all your life to build a legacy for your loved ones and to support causes you care about. A comprehensive Estate Plan can provide peace of mind and ensure that your assets will be distributed according to your wishes.

You may also be named liquidator of an Estate. You want to fulfill that honour and your responsibilities, but it can be daunting and out of your comfort zone. To be more efficient and do things the right way, you may want to consider hiring professionals who have both experience and a network of resources to support you, no matter the task at hand.

Our Services

Estate and trust planning during your lifetime ensures your assets will be managed and distributed according to your wishes, regardless of how your life circumstances evolve over time.

Depending on your situation, many tools, such as a will, mandate, and a family trust, are available to meet your personal and philanthropical goals during your lifetime and beyond. Above all, they will help provide sound guidance for your loved ones while they navigate an emotional time.

The greatest gift you can give your loved ones is a plan, and communicating that plan beforehand can alleviate distress for those you care for. More than 50% of Canadians do not have a will and often this is due to a misunderstanding of how your assets will be distributed by law if you die intestate. Intestacy does not consider personal circumstances, and without a will your loved ones may be left without adequate provision.

Equally important is a mandate, which allows an appointed individual who is trustworthy to manage your assets should you become temporarily or permanently incapacitated.

As a way to start the conversation, we are happy to review your current will, family trust and/or mandate. We will recommend changes if required and help you put all of your affairs in order. Our goal is to ensure that your will is direct on your last wishes, your mandate provides clear instruction should you not be able to act, and that your family trust reflects best how your assets should be managed on your behalf.

Our Planning and Consulting services include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Reviewing your current will and mandates
  • Assisting you with the preparation of new wills, codicils and mandates
  • Preparing a personal balance sheet that summarizes your net worth for ease of reference for you and your liquidators

Estate and Trust planning is not static. As life events happen such as the arrival of a newborn in the family, the purchase of a business, a new life partnership arrangement, departure from Canada and more, you will want to review your existing plans.

If you want to ensure your named liquidators will be counseled by professionals who have both experience and a network of resources to support them, our liquidator services are the way to go. 

Our executor services are comprehensive and include tasks such as:

  • Cancelling and changing utilities, service providers, and subscriptions
  • Gathering and evaluating financial assets
  • Managing and evaluating property such as vehicles and dwellings
  • Checking unclaimed balances
  • Redirecting mail via Canada Post
  • Communicating with local and foreign financial institutions
  • Managing beneficiary relationships


For transparency and governance purposes FL Fuller Landau will only consider acting as one of your named
liquidators if at least two ADDITIONAL liquidators are also appointed in your will.

If you are appointed as a liquidator of an estate but lack the time or the skills to manage the administration on your own, FL Fuller Landau, while not appointed as liquidator in the will, can offer back-office support to help you with estate management. This includes tasks such as opening and closing bank and broker accounts, obtaining clearance certificates, and more.

In addition, rest assured that our Tax team has extensive experience in:

  • Preparing and filing of the deceased’s final personal tax return and ongoing estate tax returns
  • Preparing and filling of clearance certificates

Estate Management 101 Checklist

For a condensed version of steps we can help you with, which include tasks such as:

What Our Clients Think

Glossary of Terms

A person who will derive advantage from the trust or will.

A certificate that confirms that an estate of a deceased person has paid all taxes, interest, and penalties owed and allows the Liquidator to distribute assets without the risk of being personally liable for amounts the deceased may owe to the government.

A legal document used to make a minor change to a will.

An estate is the property owned by an individual at the time of their death. It can also refer to the aggregate of an individual’s assets.

A tax return prepared for an Estate, also referred to as a T3 Return in Canada, or a TP-646 Return in the province of Quebec.

When an individual dies without a will.

A person who is charged with the administration of an Estate, usually by nomination in a will. This terminology is most commonly used in Québec, however a Liquidator is sometimes referred to as an Executor, Trustee, Legal Representative, or Estate Administrator

An official document an individual can use to designate an individual or individuals to look after their property in the event they become temporarily or permanently incapable. In other jurisdictions this is often referred to as a Power of Attorney.

A fiduciary arrangement whereby a grantor gives a trustee the right to hold title of property on behalf of beneficiaries.

An individual who has the power to hold title to property and/or assets on behalf of a Trust’s beneficiaries.

A legal document that outlines an individual’s wishes as to how their property is to be distributed after their death. In Quebec, a will drawn up by a notary, often referred to as a notarized will, is the recommended format.

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