{"id":12779,"date":"2020-03-26T05:58:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T09:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/news\/?p=12779"},"modified":"2022-01-17T12:07:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T17:07:03","slug":"online-will-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/online-will-planning","title":{"rendered":"Is Creating an Online Will Safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What will happen to our belongings after we pass away? It&#8217;s not a fun conversation to have, and it certainly isn&#8217;t easy to plan for an inevitability that sparks fear and worry.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Death is a reality, so to leave your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/assets-after-you-die\">division of assets<\/a> up to chance is not the best choice or the most responsible one. Instead, a will and an estate plan can make the process of organizing your life after death much less stressful and a lot more painless.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, the question is, where is the best place to create a will? According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/willful.co\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Willful<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 57% of Canadians don&#8217;t have a will. The two main reasons for this is due to the lack of convenience and the overall cost. Online will-planning has become a much more common choice for those looking to get their estate plans in order without leaving their home office. Here&#8217;s a look at how to create a will online and what to consider.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"<b&gt;how-do-you-plan-your-will-online?<\/b&gt;\"><b>How Do You Plan Your Will Online?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/how-to-create-online-will-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"online-will-planning\" class=\"wp-image-12784\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online will platforms, such as Willful and LegalWills.ca, are two options for Canadians who don&#8217;t have complicated situations. If you require specific legal advice when it comes to planning for their estate, an online will might not work for you. These interactive websites allow you to have a user-friendly experience while earning the knowledge of what basic legal terminology means. Not only will you assign an executor, beneficiaries and personal directive \u2014 but you&#8217;ll also learn what these terms mean.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Did you know?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An executor is a person responsible for completing the terms of your will to your wishes.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A beneficiary is someone who will receive an inheritance or asset from you once you pass.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A personal directive will help make all of your medical decisions if you are unable to communicate.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of this legal jargon can be overwhelming. While a lawyer would plainly explain these to you in person, online wills provide the option to learn by reading at your own pace.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similar to personal tax software, online platforms will take you through a questionnaire that customizes a simple will to suit your needs. Just like any will, you will need to assign guardians for children, distribute personal assets to beneficiaries, and even include what happens to your pets upon your death.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although these online will platforms tackle a large part of estate planning, Erin Bury, CEO of Willful, says that a will is just the tip of the iceberg.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Checking &#8220;make a will&#8221; off your to-do list doesn&#8217;t mean you have a comprehensive estate plan,&#8221; says Bury. &#8220;It just means you&#8217;ve taken care of the most important part.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aside from your will, you will also need to provide necessary information to your executors such as financial accounts, insurance policies, deeds, and funeral plans. These additional pieces to the estate planning puzzle are unavailable online.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"<b&gt;what-are-the-benefits-(and-costs)-of-online-will-planning?<\/b&gt;\"><b>What Are the Benefits (and Costs) Of Online Will Planning?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/advantages-of-online-will-planning-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"create a will\" class=\"wp-image-12783\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When using an online service, the only requirement is to go to your chosen website and begin to work through the questions. If you are stuck or want to consider plans for a celebration of life, you can leave the site and come back another time to finish. Being free from time constraints is one of the convenient factors that coincide with online will planning. Frequently, you might be caught off guard by questions that are relevant to your will, such as charitable donations or setting up a trust fund for your minor children.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;You may have specific bequests, like $5,000 to your nephew or your piano to your niece,&#8221; says Tim Hewson, President of LegalWills.ca. Hewson says that online will planning gets you thinking about what you hope to see with your assets. You&#8217;ll also get a better feel for who is an excellent fit to take on the responsibility of managing these assets on your behalf.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In short, the apparent benefits of online will planning include cost and convenience. &#8220;Using an online tool means you can create your will from your couch, at a time that&#8217;s convenient for you, without having to spend a fortune,&#8221; says Bury. For some, Bury says that scheduling an appointment with a lawyer can be inconvenient, and cost-prohibitive.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In-person estate planning ranges from $400 to $1,000 and up for a simple will. Wills that require a more comprehensive plan can be more costly. Online will packages range from $99 to $249 on Willful, and $39.95 to $124.95 on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalwills.ca\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LegalWills.ca<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"<b&gt;what-are-the-disadvantages-of-an-online-will?<\/b&gt;\"><b>What Are the Disadvantages of an Online Will?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full wp-image-12785\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/disadvantages-of-online-will-planning-1.jpg\" alt=\"tech savvy\" class=\"wp-image-12785\"\/><figcaption>Retirement Senior Couple Lifestyle Living Concept<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the flip side, online platforms can only do so much. For those of us with more complex situations, such as separation, divorce, or a child with a disability, tackling your will online won&#8217;t provide the customization or coverage that you need. Take it from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneysense.ca\/author\/ed-olkovich\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ed Olkovich<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an Ontario Certified Specialist in Estates and Trusts Law, who says that &#8220;most online forms do not consider unique needs.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a Globe and Mail question and answer column, Olkovich mentioned the disadvantages of online will services. Those reasons include not having a professional to review your documents, the inability to customize and the overall support in how you make your decisions and what decisions are best.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some other considerations for why an online will might not be right for you are your level of tech-savvy required and that online wills cannot be stored digitally \u2014 requiring you to print, sign and save those documents somewhere safe at home or otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although affordable, assets and belongings are precious. As such, protecting them in case of your death is essential.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"<b&gt;is-it-safe-to-create-a-will-online?<\/b&gt;\"><b>Is It Safe to Create a Will Online?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/is-online-will-planning-safe-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"risks of online wills\" class=\"wp-image-12781\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After getting to know the pros and cons of creating a will online, the real question we&#8217;re all itching to know is whether or not this option is safe? The answer: it depends.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Personally, creating an online will was an easy option. After having a child we were unable to take the time to sit down with a lawyer to accomplish this very important estate planning task; for us, the quick and painless option was using an online tool to create a will, which allowed us to quickly accomplish what we needed, in case our child required a guardian.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we get older and our assets increase and lives become more sophisticated, a more comprehensive will might be essential. For now, though, the print-off document that lists our wishes is a great start and was incredibly painless to complete.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thinking about our mortality isn&#8217;t exactly how we&#8217;d like to spend our Sunday afternoons, but that doesn&#8217;t mean we can avoid the topic either. You might not believe an online will platform is the safest option \u2014 but the factor that makes this decision simple is whether or not you have a will, and how quickly you might need one.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than half of Canadians do not have a will in place because it\u2019s costly and inconvenient \u2013 but online will platforms are making will-planning both accessible and affordable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":12780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[11903,11904],"guide":[],"class_list":["post-12779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-create-an-online-will","tag-is-online-will-planning-safe"],"acf":[],"zolo_excerpt":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12779"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20194,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions\/20194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12779"},{"taxonomy":"guide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guide?post=12779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}