Canadian Estate Planning, Trusts, and Tax Program

How can an estate plan provide direction during incapacity and carry my intentions forward after death?

Estate Planning for Incapacity and Legacy (formerly Estate Planning Module 2) explores how estate planning can support both lifetime decision-making and the transfer of assets, responsibilities, and values after death. You will examine the roles of powers of attorney for finances and health care, consider how advance planning can reduce uncertainty during a health crisis, and distinguish between effective and efficient wealth transfers. The module also invites you to consider legacy more broadly, including how an estate plan can reflect personal values, philanthropic aims, family history, and the responsibilities of beneficiaries.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Compare the purposes of powers of attorney for finances and health care with documents that operate after death.
• Identify questions to ask when selecting someone to make financial or personal care decisions during incapacity.
• Analyze how advance health care directions can affect decision-making, family dynamics, and conflict during a crisis.
• Evaluate whether an estate planning approach supports both the intended transfer of assets and the practical costs and responsibilities involved.
• Articulate how personal values, family aspirations, or charitable intentions might be reflected in a legacy plan.

The Experience

This module combines self-paced reading, document examples, podcasts, film-based scenarios, and reflection questions. A health care crisis from The Descendants is used to examine how powers of attorney and advance directions shape authority, family involvement, and difficult decisions when a person no longer has capacity.

You will also consider legacy through the example of Alfred Nobel and through prompts about how wealth, values, and aspirations may be carried forward. Homework questions help you compare key estate planning documents, interpret the consequences of different planning choices, and reflect on your own role within a broader family estate plan.

Estimated Completion Time: 3 hours

Prerequisites: Estate Planning Basics Recommended 

Featured Resources:

• Heritage Trust estate planning roadmap "Heritage Trust: Before It's Too Late: The Estate Organizer Guide for Canadians, 2nd Edition" 
• Sample of an enduring power of attorney for personal care for Ontario
• Sample power of attorney for finances
• Podcast from Cindy Radu entitled, Get it Together: What you Need to Know to Organize Your Estate
• Podcast from Dr. Katie Spencer entitled, Crafting Legacies, Unveiling Personal Narratives-The Tamarind Learning Podcast
• Podcast from Iris Wagner entitled, Family Lore, Wisdom, and Values: Transformation with Ethical Wills

What should I know about wills, probate, and how assets pass after death?

Wills, Probate, and Asset Transfer (formerly Estate Planning Basics Module 3) focuses on the role of a last will and testament in directing asset transfers, naming beneficiaries, appointing executors, and reducing ambiguity after death. Learners examine how wills work, what can go wrong when they are vague or outdated, and how probate, intestacy, asset titling, and survivorship rights affect the transfer process. Through cautionary examples and applied review, the module helps learners move from assuming a will is simple or sufficient to asking more informed questions about clarity, completeness, and practical administration.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Identify the essential features of a valid and well-designed will, including executors, beneficiaries, bequests, guardianship provisions, signatures, and witnesses.
• Compare how assets may pass through specific, general, pecuniary, annuity, demonstrative, and residuary gifts.
• Distinguish between dying testate and intestate, and recognize how probate may affect privacy, cost, timing, and court involvement.
• Evaluate how beneficiary designations, contingent legatees, asset titling, and survivorship rights can affect whether assets pass through probate.
• Use cautionary examples to identify common will design flaws, including vague beneficiaries, outdated documents, missing backup provisions, and inadequate specificity.

The Experience

This module combines self-paced reading, will examples, cautionary tales, applied homework, and document review activities. Learners explore different types of gifts, beneficiary language, contingent legatees, per stirpes and per capita distribution methods, and the consequences of dying with or without a valid will.

The experience also includes analysis of real-world examples, including Howard Hughes, Clark v. Campbell, Warren Burger, Gene Hackman, and Elvis Presley’s will. Learners use these examples to identify design flaws, evaluate the importance of specificity, and consider how probate and asset titling can affect privacy, cost, timing, and family conflict.

Prerequisites: Estate Planning Basics and Estate Planning for Incapacity Recommended

Estimated Completion Time: 2 hours

Featured Resources: 

• Sample Last Will and Testament
• "An Analysis of Canada's Most Famous Holograph Will: How a Saskatchewan Farmer Scratched His Way Into Legal History" by Geoff Ellwand
• Elvis Presley’s Exemplary Will 

How does a trust separate ownership, control, and benefit to serve a purpose over time?

How Trusts Work: Purpose, Parties, and Protections (formerly Trust Fundamentals Module 1) introduces the core structure of a trust and explains why families use trusts to support protection, continuity, and long-term purpose. Learners examine how legal ownership is separated from beneficial enjoyment, how trusts are created and categorized, how beneficiaries may receive income, capital, or other forms of benefit, and how the settlor, trustee, beneficiaries, and additional parties fit together. The module also introduces the practical and tax considerations that can arise when a trust holds income-producing or non-liquid assets.

What You'll Be Able to Do On the Other Side

By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• explain why trusts separate legal ownership from beneficial enjoyment;
• describe how trusts may support protection, continuity, and purpose;
• categorize a trust as inter vivos or testamentary, revocable or irrevocable, and discretionary or non-discretionary;
• identify the Three Certainties required to establish a trust;
• distinguish trust capital from trust income;
• recognize how beneficiaries may receive value through cash distributions, property, paid expenses, use of an asset, or other indirect benefits;
• explain why distributing a non-liquid asset may require consideration of liquidity, valuation, control, fairness, tax, and trust purpose;
• identify the settlor, trustee, beneficiaries, and common additional parties to a trust; and
• locate the core structural elements of a trust in a simplified Canadian trust deed.

The Experience

This module combines concise readings, visual explanations, classification activities, reflection prompts, and practical examples designed for accessible, screen-based learning. Curated expert insights from Cindy Radu and Professor Albert Oosterhoff clarify the trust relationship and the requirements for creating a valid trust. Video examples illustrate how trust income may be retained or distributed, while a simplified Canadian trust deed gives learners an opportunity to identify the parties, property, Three Certainties, trustee authority, succession provisions, and termination terms in a realistic document.

How can trusts be used as part of an estate plan, and what trade-offs arise when property follows a trust path rather than another ownership or transfer path?

Trusts can play several roles within an estate plan, including supporting continuity, protecting beneficiaries, managing complex assets, planning for incapacity, guiding succession, and changing how property passes at death. Trusts as Part of an Estate Plan (formerly Trust Fundamentals Module 2) examines how trusts work alongside wills, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations, insurance, business structures, and other ownership arrangements. It also explores the trade-offs that arise when property is placed on a trust path, including changes in ownership, tax consequences, probate treatment, ongoing administration, and the need to review whether the trust still serves its purpose over time.

What You'll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• explain how inter vivos and testamentary trusts fit into estate plans;
• compare a trust path with outright ownership and other transfer arrangements;
• identify why spousal, alter ego, and joint partner trusts may be used;
• describe what changes when property enters a trust;
• map how trusts connect to other estate-planning documents and assets;
• explain the difference between probate, the 21-year tax rule, and trust termination; and
• evaluate whether a trust continues to serve its intended estate-planning purpose.

The Experience

Through concise readings, practical examples, and applied case studies, you will follow assets through different ownership and transfer paths and see how trusts operate during life, incapacity, death, and succession. You will compare inter vivos and testamentary trusts, examine spousal and alter ego trust scenarios, and work through the consequences of moving property into a trust.

You will also untangle Stan’s multi-part estate plan, consider how your own trusts intersect with your wider plan, and step into the role of a trustee facing an approaching 21-year deemed disposition date. Optional deep dives and the downloadable Map Your Estate Plan and Trusts workbook provide opportunities to explore technical concepts further and prepare more focused conversations with your advisors.

What structures, practices, and conversations help trustees and beneficiaries understand their roles and work together more effectively?

Family trusts do more than hold assets. They also shape authority, communication, relationships, and decision-making across the family enterprise. Trust Governance (formerly Trust Fundamentals Module 3) introduces the role of trust governance, including how trustees, beneficiaries, family members, and advisors interact; how legal authority differs from broader governance practice; and how thoughtful communication can support better outcomes. Learners will also consider when beneficiary disclosure may be required in Canada and what responsible, age- and stage-appropriate disclosure can look like in practice.

What You'll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• explain the role of trust governance within a family enterprise;
• identify who holds legal authority and who may need to be consulted or informed;
• distinguish between the trust deed, legal obligations, and good governance practices;
• recognize how one person may hold several roles connected to the trust;
• explain the Canadian approach to beneficiary disclosure;
• identify practical tools that can support trustees and beneficiaries; and
• apply trust governance principles to a real-world family enterprise dispute.

The Experience

This module combines concise explanations, visual frameworks, practical examples, and applied reflection activities. You will consider tools such as trust advisory committees and the broader “trustscape,” examine how beneficiary disclosure can be handled thoughtfully, and hear perspectives from trust governance practitioners through curated podcast conversations. These include a discussion of trust advisory committees with Cindy Radu and Russ Haworth, as well as a conversation with James E. Hughes Jr., Ruth Steverlynk, and Wendy Sage-Hayward about why beneficiaries may experience a trust as a burden and how trustees and families can better support beneficiary development. The module concludes with a case study of the Rogers family and the Rogers Control Trust, illustrating how clear legal authority can coexist with communication gaps, overlapping roles, and unresolved conflict.

Featured Resources: 

• Family Trusts: A Guide for Beneficiaries, Trustees, Trust Protectors, and Trust Creators by Hartley Goldstone, James E. Hughes Jr., Keith Whitaker
• "The Rogers Saga and What It Can Teach Us About Family Business And Conflict" by Nicole Garton
• "How Ted Rogers Planned for Family Conflict and Set Up Rules to Resolve It" by Robert Brehl
• Podcast by Cindy Radu and Jane Beddall - The underappreciated opportunities of trusts
• Podcast by Jay Hughes with Ruth Steverlynk and Wendy Sage-Hayward - The Family Trust
• Podcast by Russ Haworth - Trust Governance

What do you need to understand about taxes to make better financial decisions?

Taxes can feel boring, stressful, or easy to put off until filing season. But understanding the basics can give you more control over the financial decisions you make all year long.

This module helps you see how taxes may affect income, investing, retirement, relocation, and long-term planning—so you can ask better questions, compare options more clearly, and make decisions with fewer surprises.

Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Spot when tax may matter in a financial decision, so you know when to pause and ask better questions.
• Read a tax bracket chart so income decisions feel clearer and less intimidating.
• Compare income, investment, relocation, or retirement choices with context
• Trace the path from paycheque deductions to refund or balance owing, so your annual tax result feels less surprising.
• Identify deductions, credits, contribution room, and taxable events that may be worth asking advisors about.
• Understand how RRSPs and TFSAs work differently, so you can think more clearly about savings and tax timing.
• Recognize when tax is only one part of the decision, so you can ask whether the choice still makes sense overall.
• Show up more prepared for conversations with financial and tax advisors, so you can ask clearer questions and participate more confidently.

The Experience

This module helps make taxes feel less mysterious by connecting the basics of Canada’s tax system to real financial decisions. You’ll explore how tax can show up in everyday planning moments, including income, investing, retirement, relocation, refunds or balances owing, RRSPs, TFSAs, and different types of investment income.

Along the way, you’ll work through practical examples, comparison activities, and reflection prompts designed to help you notice where tax may matter in your own life. The experience is designed to build orientation, reduce intimidation, and help you show up more prepared for conversations with financial and tax advisors.

Tax Disclaimer: The information provided in this course is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered tax, legal, or financial advice. The instructors and creators of this course are not acting as your tax advisor, accountant, or legal professional. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, and their application may vary based on your individual circumstances. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, we make no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of the information presented. Before making any tax-related decisions or taking action based on the information in this course, you should consult with a qualified tax professional, CPA, or tax advisor who can review your specific financial situation. By participating in this course, you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for your financial and tax decisions, and the course creators and instructors are not liable for any outcomes resulting from the use of the information provided.

What should I understand about how trusts, estates, and estate freezes affect who is taxed when wealth is transferred?

Taxation of Trusts, Estates, and Wealth Transfer (formerly Foundations of Tax Module 2) explores how Canadian tax responsibilities shift when wealth moves through an estate, trust, family business, or estate-freeze structure. It examines tax at death, trust and estate filing obligations, trust residency, the practical demands placed on executors and heirs, and the use of an estate freeze to preserve an owner’s current value while shifting future growth to family members or a family trust. It also considers the limits that shape these strategies, including Alternative Minimum Tax, attribution rules, and TOSI, helping learners move from seeing each rule in isolation to asking more informed questions about tax, control, succession, family roles, and implementation.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Separate the tax roles and responsibilities of an individual, estate, trust, beneficiary, executor, and trustee.
• Assess the main tax and filing issues that can arise at death, including deemed dispositions, terminal returns, T3 returns, GRE status, and trust distributions.
• Analyze how an estate freeze changes ownership, preserves an owner’s current value, and shifts future growth to family members or a family trust.
• Evaluate the financial, control, succession, and family considerations in an estate-freeze proposal before deciding what questions to raise with advisors.
• Identify when trust residency, AMT, attribution rules, or TOSI may limit or complicate a planning strategy.

The Experience

This self-paced module combines concise explanations, process diagrams, mini cases, and reflection prompts. Learners compare estates and testamentary trusts, follow the tax sequence at death, examine the Chen family’s estate-administration challenges, and use the Garron case to distinguish formal trustee location from real decision-making authority. A substantial case study follows the Reynolds family and Minimum Effort Productions before and after an estate freeze.

Learners interpret ownership diagrams, consider whether the family should proceed, record questions for an advisor, and complete a homework exercise weighing financial and non-financial opportunities. Worked examples on AMT and income splitting then help learners connect the planning strategy to the tax rules that may constrain it.

Featured Resources:

• Don't Leave a Mess Chapter 6, "Taxes: Truth or Consequences" by Sandra Pollack
• "Supreme Court of Canada Renders Decision on Trust Residency" by Stikeman Elliot
• Fundy Settlement vs. Canada

In this module, the different types of entities that accomplish both tax-related and non-tax-related goals are discussed. Students explore how flow-through entities, including sole proprietorships and partnerships, and non-flow-through entities, such as CCPS's, achieve goals for business owners.  In addition, an overview is provided of private foundations, public charities, donor-advised funds, and community foundations including their pros and cons, and the key differences to help guide philanthropic goals.

Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Featured Resources:

     Articles/Books

• "Partnerships: What, How and When" by Matthew Pollock & Prasad Taksal
• T3010 Return Form
• T3010 Checklist
• Public List of Charities in Canada- Search Tool
• Philanthropic Foundations, Canada
• Gift Funds Canada
• Community Foundations of Canada
• Community Foundations of Canada: Find a Community Foundation
• "Which Are The Largest Community Foundations in Canada" by Mark Blumberg
• "Charitable Remainder Trust in Canada" by Malcolm Burrows
• Gift Funds Canada- Five Advantages of a DAF

     Videos

• Podcast by Preston Root, entitled, Building Continuity Across Generations