The Canadian estate planning checklist.

Most estate planning checklists stop at the legal documents. Those matter, and they're first on this list — but a will, a power of attorney and a personal directive only work if somebody can find them and knows what else exists. This checklist covers both halves: the legal work, and the information that makes the legal work usable.

1. The legal documents

• A will, drafted for the province you live in. In Quebec, a notarial will avoids probate entirely.
• A power of attorney for property or finances, so someone can act if you can't.
• A personal directive, representation agreement, mandate or health care directive — the name and form vary by province.
• Guardianship wishes for minor children, named in the will.
• A record of where the signed originals are kept. A copy is often not enough for a court.
• The name and contact details of the lawyer or notary who drafted them.

2. The people

• Your executor — estate trustee in Ontario, liquidator in Quebec, personal representative in the western provinces — and an alternate.
• Your attorney under a power of attorney, and an alternate.
• Guardians for minor children, and whether they have actually agreed.
• Beneficiaries, with current spellings, dates of birth and how to reach them.
• Your lawyer, accountant, financial advisor and insurance broker.
• Anyone who holds a key, a code or signing authority on anything.

3. Money and accounts

• Every chequing and savings account, with the institution and branch.
• Registered accounts — RRSP, TFSA, RESP, RRIF, FHSA — and the beneficiary or successor holder named on each.
• Non-registered investment accounts and the advisor who manages them.
• Workplace pensions and any locked-in retirement accounts from previous employers.
• Mortgages, lines of credit, credit cards, car loans and student debt.
• Anything owed to you: loans to family, receivables from a business.
• A safety deposit box, its branch and where the key is.
• Cryptocurrency, if any — this is the asset most often lost outright, because access dies with the person.

4. Insurance

• Life insurance policies, insurer, policy number and named beneficiary.
• Group life coverage through an employer, a union or a professional association — routinely forgotten.
• Mortgage life insurance, if it was purchased with the mortgage.
• Disability and critical illness coverage.
• Home, tenant, auto, boat and recreational vehicle policies.
• Travel and out-of-province medical coverage, including coverage attached to a credit card.

5. Property and possessions

• Real property, how title is held, and whether it is joint with right of survivorship.
• A cottage or recreational property — often the single most emotionally complicated asset in a Canadian estate.
• Vehicles, trailers and equipment, with registration details.
• Storage units and their access codes.
• Items with real value: jewellery, art, collections, tools, firearms and their licences.
• Items with sentimental value and who you'd like to have them. Say it in writing; families remember it differently.

6. Digital life

• Email accounts — the master key to almost everything else through password resets.
• Banking and investment logins, including two-factor authentication and where the backup codes live.
• Subscriptions and recurring charges that will keep billing.
• Photo libraries and cloud storage, which are often the thing families most want.
• Social media accounts and what you'd like done with them.
• Loyalty points and travel rewards, some of which are transferable to an estate.
• A business's domains, hosting and payment processors, if you own one.

7. Dependants, pets and care

• Care instructions for minor children: schools, health information, routines, who they know.
• Support arrangements for a dependent adult, and any registered disability savings plan.
• Pets — who takes them, and their vet.
• Any care agreement or arrangement you are financially responsible for.

8. Wishes and the human part

• Burial, cremation or donation preferences, and whether anything is prepaid.
• A prepaid funeral contract and the provider — Canadians who prepay often forget to tell anyone.
• Organ and tissue donation registration in your province.
• Who should be told, and in what order.
• Anything you'd want said to the people you love. This is the part nobody regrets recording.

What differs by province

Probate fees are the biggest variation: Ontario charges Estate Administration Tax, British Columbia charges probate fees above a threshold, Alberta's court fees are comparatively modest, and Quebec's notarial wills bypass probate altogether. The name of the person in charge changes too, and so does the incapacity document. If you move provinces, review the whole package.

This is general information for Canadian households, not legal or tax advice. Life Box is not a lawyer, notary or adviser, and doesn't write wills — a lawyer in your province should draft the legal documents.