My wife, Maureen McKay, is the love of my life, so it is only natural that I want to be sure that she will be well taken care of when I pop off. And since I am now 70 years old and she is quite a bit younger than I am, it only makes sense that I would try to put some things in order to make it easier for her to go shopping when I nod off for the last time.
With that background, you will understand why I found myself at the Bank a few months ago, adding her as a director and bank signing authority to my corporate accounts, and as a joint account holder on my bank and investment accounts. That is what we responsible adults do as we get older. We plan for the succession of our personal and business affairs.
What I did not expect was that as I drove home from the Bank, Maureen would suddenly scream, “Stop! You missed the turn for the cemetery.” As I just about always do what Maureen says, I stopped the truck and asked her what was going on. She explained that it was a suitable time for us to visit the local cemetery and see if it would be a good place for us to be buried. In fairness to Maureen, we had spoken before about checking out the local cemetery, but still, her timing could have been better.
So, I turned the truck around and we headed out to Sandy Lake Cemetery to check it out. After a brief tour, we got back in the truck, and I started to torment Maureen about her desire to check out the cemetery so soon after all the papers had been signed at the Bank. The highlight was when I asked her whether she wanted to just remain parked at the cemetery and wait for my upcoming demise. She was unamused.
Rachel Ray is reputed to have said, “You can laugh, or you can cry. It is up to you which one you do.” When it comes to contemplating estate planning and business succession, those words fit well. However, while taking our mortality in stride with a dose of humour makes sense, it is not enough. Our families have the right to also expect us to do some planning to help them cope with our passing.
Those of you who want to learn more about estate planning and business succession will have no problem finding insurance professionals, tax experts, and Wills and Estates lawyers to give you competent technical advice. However, the better advisers go beyond the technical advice and work hard to help you make the best decisions for your family and business.
Maureen and I never practiced Wills and Estates, but prior to my retirement, I did quite a bit of work in family business succession, and Maureen continues to do so.
If she forgives me for telling the cemetery story, we are going to collaborate and explore this topic in subsequent articles.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.