Estate Planning Checklist: 10 Tasks to Prioritize
A complete estate planning checklist should begin with an asset inventory and current legal documents, then reconcile beneficiary designations and business succession arrangements before a crisis or major life change. In Ontario, Estate Administration Tax is $0 on the first $50,000 of estate value and $15 per $1,000 above that threshold, so a $500,000 estate owes about $6,750, a $1 million estate about $14,250, and a $2 million estate about $29,250.
You may already have a will. You may also have a corporation, registered accounts, insurance, real estate, shareholder agreements, and a spouse or children who assume everything will fit together automatically. That assumption makes sense because each document was probably created for a separate purpose, often at a different time and with a different advisor.
The standard is clearer. An estate plan is a coordinated set of documents, ownership records, beneficiary designations, funding decisions, and review dates. A will alone cannot coordinate assets that pass through survivorship or valid beneficiary designations, and it cannot keep a business operating if you become incapacitated.
This estate planning checklist is ordered by the risk each task removes. It starts with the foundation, then moves through decision-making authority, family protection, and business continuity. Legal and tax treatment depends on your family, ownership, and asset facts, so decisions involving wills, trusts, corporations, or tax elections belong with the appropriate lawyer and accountant.
1. Create or update your will before your family has to interpret your intentions
A will gives your executor authority and direction after your death. If you die without a valid will, Ontario’s Succession Law Reform Act determines how property is distributed, regardless of what you intended. That can make administration slower, create conflict, and leave business interests without a practical transition plan.
A current Ontario will should be drafted and signed with the required witness formalities. It should identify your executor, include an alternate, explain how assets are distributed, and address any corporate shares, operating assets, real estate, or agreements connected to your business.
Practical rule: Your will must agree with the documents that control assets outside the will.
An owner-manager with two adult children may want equal value for both children, while one child continues the company and the other receives other assets. A simple direction to “divide everything equally” may create an impractical result if the estate holds private-company shares, a home, and registered accounts.
Have an Ontario lawyer prepare or review the will. Keep the original securely and tell your executor where it is stored. Review it after a major life change and on a regular review cycle. Coordinate it with shareholder agreements, buy-sell arrangements, insurance, and beneficiary forms. Handwritten or outdated documents can create avoidable questions about validity and intention.
2. Establish a power of attorney for property before incapacity interrupts the business
A will operates after death. A power of attorney for property operates while you’re alive and gives a trusted person authority to manage financial and legal affairs if you can’t do so yourself.
Without one, your family may need court involvement before someone can access accounts, handle real estate, sign contracts, arrange financing, or manage corporate affairs. That delay matters to an owner-manager whose business depends on timely payroll, supplier payments, customer decisions, and banking authority.
Choose an attorney who understands your financial position and your business. You may give that person broad authority, or limit the authority to specific tasks. The document should also clarify whether the power begins immediately or only after incapacity, because that choice changes how the attorney can act.
Consider an alternate attorney if your first choice can’t serve. Tell the attorney what authority you’re granting and where important records are kept. Financial institutions may need a copy to verify authority, so provide it before an emergency occurs.
A contractor might authorize a trusted person to manage payroll and invoices during a hospitalization. A real estate investor might grant limited authority to a lawyer to manage rentals while excluding a sale. Those decisions require careful drafting because the right scope depends on your assets, trust relationships, and operating needs.
3. Establish healthcare authority before a medical crisis forces a family decision
Financial authority and healthcare authority serve different purposes. A power of attorney for personal care allows someone to make personal and medical decisions when you’re incapable of making them yourself. It should be discussed alongside your care preferences and any advance care planning document that records your values.
The person you choose may need to communicate with healthcare providers, decide about treatment, arrange care, and make choices about comfort and quality of life. Choose someone who understands your wishes and can act under pressure, even when other family members disagree.
Give the document practical direction
A business owner may choose an adult child for healthcare decisions while naming a different person for financial affairs. That separation can make sense when one person understands your medical values and another understands the corporation or investment portfolio.
Discuss your views on life-sustaining treatment, palliative care, pain management, and organ donation before signing the document. Put important preferences in writing, then give copies to your family, lawyer, and primary care physician.
Review the document after a significant change in your health, family relationships, or personal wishes. The purpose is to reduce uncertainty when you can’t speak for yourself. It also prevents your family from confusing medical authority with financial authority.
4. Reconcile beneficiary designations before they bypass your estate plan
Registered plans, insurance policies, pensions, and other assets may pass directly to named beneficiaries. A valid designation or survivorship arrangement can move an asset outside the will and probate process. Ontario guidance highlights why this deserves priority. Ontario households aged 65 and older held $2.69 trillion in assets in 2023, while only 31.7% of those assets were typically governed directly by a will, according to Ontario estate planning guidance on beneficiary designations and ownership.
That means your beneficiary forms may control a significant part of the result. Your will can say one thing while an RRSP, TFSA, RESP, pension, or life insurance policy sends value somewhere else.
The form held by the financial institution can decide who receives the asset.
Audit every registered account and insurance policy. Record the current beneficiary, any contingent beneficiary, the account owner, and the institution holding the account. Review the forms after marriage, divorce, remarriage, a birth, a death, or a significant change in family circumstances.
An owner may update a will to divide assets equally among three children and later discover that an RRSP still names a former spouse. Another person may name the estate intentionally for tax or control reasons. That choice can have probate and tax consequences, so it requires coordinated advice rather than an automatic rule.
Keep a beneficiary schedule with the rest of your estate records. Your executor and family need to know which assets exist and which documents control them.
5. Obtain a current business valuation before setting the funding and succession numbers
A private corporation is difficult to transfer fairly when nobody has established what it’s worth. A current valuation provides a defensible basis for estate administration, succession decisions, buy-sell terms, insurance funding, and discussions among family members or shareholders.
The valuation should match its purpose. A valuation prepared for a potential sale may address different questions from one prepared for a shareholder agreement or estate administration. Give the valuator complete financial information and explain the decision the valuation must support.
An owner-managed contractor may believe the company’s value rests mainly in equipment, while customer concentration, margins, management depth, and recurring work affect the conclusion. A professional firm may need a valuation to establish a buyout price between partners. A real estate company may need a valuation to connect corporate value with insurance and transition planning.
Obtain the valuation while you’re healthy and able to explain the business. Ask for a qualified valuator with relevant industry experience and discuss whether the engagement should follow a recognized Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators framework.
Your accountant and lawyer should review how the conclusion fits into the rest of the plan. Revisit it after a major acquisition, sale, ownership change, material shift in earnings, or other event that changes business value. For an owner-managed company, C&P Partners CPA’s business valuation services in Milton, Ontario can form part of that advisory conversation.
6. Formalize the buy-sell agreement before death or disability creates a forced negotiation
A buy-sell agreement answers a practical question. What happens to an owner’s shares when that owner dies, becomes disabled, retires, or leaves?
Without a written agreement, the surviving owners may become business partners with the deceased owner’s estate. The estate may want cash, while the family may want control. The remaining owners may want to keep operating the company but lack the funds to buy the shares.
Define the trigger and the funding
The agreement should identify trigger events, the buyer, the pricing method, the payment terms, and how the purchase will be funded. Life insurance may fund a death-related purchase. Disability insurance or another agreed funding method may be relevant when an owner can’t work.
A cross-purchase arrangement can allow surviving owners to buy the deceased owner’s shares. A redemption arrangement can have the corporation purchase them. The appropriate structure depends on the corporation, ownership, tax treatment, insurance, and legal drafting.
Set the price using a current valuation or a clearly defined valuation method. Review how insurance proceeds are received and applied. Include disability terms, because death is only one event that can destabilize ownership.
Each owner should understand the agreement before signing it. The agreement, insurance policies, corporate records, and estate documents must tell the same story. C&P Partners CPA’s transaction advisory guide for owners explains why transaction decisions need a reliable view of value, ownership, and funding.
7. Establish or update the shareholder agreement while the shareholders still cooperate
A buy-sell agreement deals with specified exit events. A shareholder agreement governs how shareholders work together before those events occur. It can address voting, dividends, major transactions, transfers, disputes, compensation, and the protection of minority interests.
Every corporation with more than one shareholder should have a signed agreement that reflects the actual relationship. Corporate bylaws rarely answer every commercial question the owners face.
The agreement should set approval thresholds for major decisions such as acquisitions, capital spending, borrowing, executive compensation, related-party transactions, and dividends. It should also explain what happens when shareholders disagree. A shotgun clause, tag-along rights, or drag-along rights may be appropriate in some structures, while the legal and commercial consequences require careful review.
A 50-50 professional firm may need a deadlock mechanism. A family corporation may need rules that prevent a minority holder from blocking a sale. A company with three owners may need protection if one owner sells to an outside buyer.
Coordinate the agreement with the buy-sell arrangement, share valuation, insurance funding, and succession plan. Review it after ownership changes, a new financing arrangement, a significant acquisition, or a change in business objectives.
8. Create a succession and transition plan before retirement becomes an urgent event
A succession plan sets out who will lead and own the business when you retire, become disabled, or die. It should identify the successor, transition timing, training and support, valuation method, funding, and tax considerations.
Start with the uncomfortable question. Is the likely successor a family member, an existing employee, another shareholder, or an external buyer? If no internal successor can realistically finance or operate the company, the plan should address a sale process rather than assume family succession will work.
Protect value during the handover
Document key customer relationships, operating procedures, supplier arrangements, lender expectations, and decisions that currently depend on you. A successor can’t protect value they can’t find or understand.
A contractor may transition customer relationships to an operations manager while gradually reducing daily involvement. A professional firm may transfer clients to a younger partner through a structured handover. A family company may transfer ownership over time while preserving decision-making authority during the transition.
Your lawyer and accountant should review the plan together. Tax planning may involve capital gains exemption timing, corporate restructuring, remuneration, or financing, depending on the facts. Communicate appropriately with employees, customers, lenders, and other stakeholders when the transition becomes sufficiently defined.
Review the succession plan annually. Your health, family relationships, business value, management team, and buyer market can all change.
9. Use trusts when a beneficiary needs protection or controlled access
A trust can hold assets for a beneficiary under terms set by the trust document or will. It may be appropriate for minor children, a beneficiary with a disability, or someone who can’t safely manage a direct inheritance.
Without suitable trust provisions, assets left to a minor may require court-supervised management. A properly drafted testamentary trust can appoint a trustee, set distribution conditions, and give the trustee discretion over education, healthcare, housing, and other needs.
Match the trustee to the responsibility
A parent may want funds held until children are mature enough to manage them. A family with a disabled dependant may need provisions that support the person while considering eligibility for means-tested benefits. A beneficiary dealing with addiction, creditor exposure, or financial vulnerability may require a different distribution structure.
Choose a trustee who is capable, trustworthy, and willing to serve. Name an alternate. Explain when distributions should occur and when the trustee can retain assets because a beneficiary isn’t ready to receive them.
The trust must fit the rest of the plan. Corporate shares, insurance proceeds, registered assets, and personal property may require different treatment. A lawyer should draft the legal terms, while the accountant should assess the tax implications and reporting responsibilities.
10. Document personal and corporate assets and liabilities before you decide how to transfer them
An asset inventory is the foundation of the entire estate plan. Record what you own, how it’s titled, what it’s worth, what liabilities attach to it, and where the supporting documents are stored.
Include personal bank and investment accounts, real estate, insurance, registered plans, loans, guarantees, digital assets, and valuable personal property. For the corporation, record shares, shareholder loans, intercompany balances, equipment, intellectual property, real estate, debt, guarantees, insurance, and key contracts.
Keep personal and corporate ownership separate in the record. Owner-managers often move money between themselves and their companies, hold assets through more than one entity, or guarantee corporate obligations personally. Those relationships affect tax planning, creditor exposure, succession, and estate liquidity.
Start with the question your executor will face: what exists, who owns it, what is owed, and who can access the record?
Your financial statements may contain clues about shareholder loans, retained earnings, fixed assets, debt, and related-party balances. Understanding what your financial statements are really telling you can help connect accounting records to the decisions your estate plan must address.
Store the inventory securely and update it after acquisitions, sales, refinancing, new insurance, corporate reorganizations, or ownership changes. Tell your executor and attorney where it is located.
10-Item Estate Planning Checklist Comparison
| Item | Implementation Complexity 🔄 | Resource Requirements 💡 | Expected Outcomes ⭐📊 | Ideal Use Cases | Key Advantages ⚡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create or Update Your Will | Moderate, legal drafting + witnesses 🔄 | Lawyer involvement; 1–3 hrs; moderate cost | ⭐ Directs asset distribution; 📊 clarifies executor duties (doesn’t avoid probate) | Owners with assets, guardianship needs, business-share considerations | ⚡ Provides legal certainty; names trusted executor |
| Establish a Power of Attorney for Property | Low–Moderate, define scope and triggers 🔄 | Lawyer or template; trusted attorney-in-fact; 1–2 hrs | ⭐ Enables financial decision-making; 📊 avoids court guardianship delays | Business owners needing operational continuity if incapacitated | ⚡ Seamless financial/business operations without court |
| Establish a Healthcare Power of Attorney (Directive) | Low, appoint proxy and document wishes 🔄 | Lawyer/physician consult; discussion with proxy; low cost | ⭐ Ensures medical wishes followed; 📊 speeds emergency decisions | Those with specific end-of-life preferences or serious health risks | ⚡ Reduces family burden; accelerates clinical decisions |
| Review & Align Beneficiary Designations | Low, audit and update forms 🔄 | Time to audit accounts (2–6 hrs); contact institutions; minimal fees | ⭐ Ensures direct payouts to intended recipients; 📊 avoids probate on designated assets | Owners with RRSPs, TFSAs, life insurance or recent life changes | ⚡ Immediate, private transfers; potential tax efficiency |
| Obtain a Current Business Valuation | High, data collection and expert analysis 🔄 | Qualified valuator (CBV); $3k–$15k+; several weeks | ⭐ Defensible business value; 📊 informs tax, insurance, buy-sell pricing | Preparing buy-sell, insurance funding, or exit planning | ⚡ Accurate pricing reduces disputes; supports funding decisions |
| Document & Formalize Buy‑Sell Agreements | High, negotiation + legal drafting 🔄 | Lawyer, accountant, valuation; insurance funding; ongoing premiums | ⭐ Certainty on share transfers; 📊 funds owner exits and continuity | Multi-owner firms, planned succession, exit events | ⚡ Guarantees liquidity for buyouts; prevents unwanted ownership |
| Establish or Update a Shareholder Agreement | High, detailed, bespoke negotiation 🔄 | Lawyer; shareholder meetings; possible valuation/accounting | ⭐ Clear governance and exit rules; 📊 reduces deadlocks and disputes | Corporations with multiple shareholders or 50/50 splits | ⚡ Custom governance; minority protection; dispute frameworks |
| Create or Update a Succession & Transition Plan | High, strategic, multi-year planning 🔄 | Lawyer, accountant, advisors; years of preparation; moderate cost | ⭐ Smooth leadership/ownership transfer; 📊 preserves business value | Owners planning retirement, phased exits, or family succession | ⚡ Continuity of operations; minimizes value erosion |
| Establish/Review Trusts for Minors or Special Needs | Moderate–High, trust design + admin rules 🔄 | Lawyer; trustee selection; ongoing administration (T3 filings) | ⭐ Protects beneficiaries; 📊 avoids court oversight for minors/special needs | Parents with minors, beneficiaries needing managed support | ⚡ Controlled distributions; preserves means-tested benefits |
| Document Personal & Corporate Assets & Liabilities | Low–Moderate, comprehensive inventory 🔄 | Time to compile (several hrs); accountant/lawyer review recommended | ⭐ Clear snapshot for planning; 📊 foundation for all estate/succession actions | All business owners before any planning or transactions | ⚡ Enables informed decisions; identifies gaps and risks |
Turn the checklist into a review cycle
A checklist becomes useful when it follows the order in which decisions need to be made.
Begin with the immediate foundation. Inventory personal and corporate assets, liabilities, ownership records, insurance, registered accounts, and key agreements. Confirm that your will is current, properly executed, and coordinated with your family circumstances. Establish powers of attorney for property and personal care, then explain your wishes to the people you’ve appointed.
Next, reconcile the transfer mechanics. Review every beneficiary designation and survivorship arrangement. Confirm which assets pass through the will, which pass outside it, and whether the result matches the distribution you intend. Ontario’s rules make this especially important because assets with valid beneficiary designations or survivorship can transfer outside will instructions. A will review that ignores account forms and title registration is incomplete.
Then address the cash required to settle the estate. Ontario Estate Administration Tax is $0 on the first $50,000 of estate value and $15 per $1,000, or 1.5%, above that amount, under the province’s current rule described in Ontario’s Estate Administration Tax guidance. The tax is about $6,750 on a $500,000 estate, about $14,250 on a $1 million estate, and about $29,250 on a $2 million estate, as reflected in Ontario’s 2025 budget transparency materials. The estate may also need cash for debts, administration costs, professional fees, and tax obligations.
An Estate Information Return is due within 180 days of the estate certificate being issued, according to the Ontario estate planning checklist focused on tax and liquidity. That timing reinforces the need for a funding plan. Private-company shares, real estate, and registered assets may carry substantial value without producing cash immediately.
For owner-managers, the business work follows. Obtain a current valuation, formalize buy-sell and shareholder agreements, and create a succession plan that names the likely successor, transition path, funding, and support period. If your family includes minor children, a blended family, a common-law partner, or a dependant with a disability, have the lawyer examine whether trusts, guardianship provisions, or different beneficiary structures are required.
Finally, create a recurring review date. Affluent Canadians often have a will without completing the related incapacity documents. A 2025 Scotiatrust and Environics finding reported that 69% of affluent Canadians aged 50 and older have a will, while 59% have a power of attorney for financial matters and 53% have one for personal and medical care, as reported by Scotiatrust and Environics. Across Canada, an RBC and National Institute on Ageing report found that 48% of Canadians overall have a will, falling to 34% among people aged 35 to 54, according to the report summary. A 2026 CIBC poll reported that 52% of Canadians say they have a will, while 39% report having a financial plan and 29% an estate plan, despite 94% believing everyone should have a will, as reported through CIBC’s published poll announcement.
Those figures describe a common gap. People understand the need for a will, then stop before coordinating authority, ownership, liquidity, and succession. Your review cycle should continue after the documents are signed, especially after a marriage, separation, birth, death, incapacity, business restructuring, acquisition, sale, or major change in value.
The executor’s work also follows a sequence. The executor locates the will and death certificate, secures and inventories assets, applies for probate where required, notifies the CRA and Service Canada, pays debts and taxes, files the final T1 and any estate returns, obtains a CRA clearance certificate, and then distributes assets. This Canadian executor timeline explains why distribution should wait until the required tax and clearance steps are complete.
C&P Partners CPA works with owner-managers and high-net-worth families who need their personal and corporate picture connected before a decision is made. The firm can contribute valuation, strategic tax planning, estate administration, succession, and financial analysis alongside your legal advisors.
If your documents exist but nobody has reconciled them with your ownership records, beneficiary forms, liabilities, and business agreements, start there. That review will show which decisions need your lawyer, which need your accountant, and which need both.
If your personal and corporate assets have grown together, C&P Partners CPA can help organize the records, valuation, tax considerations, and succession questions that support an estate plan. Visit C&P Partners CPA to start a practical advisory conversation about the gaps in your current plan.