Most things in life are not guaranteed, but one thing most definitely is – death. Although that may be an unpleasant thought for many, we cannot escape from this inevitable truth and should become more comfortable talking about and planning for it.

While a large part of the Canadian population had previously ignored the need for estate planning, the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged people to change their thinking and realize the importance of doing so. In fact, many Canadians took matters into their own hands.

According to a poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute in 2018, 51% of Canadians did not have a will in place before the pandemic. There were several reasons to explain this lack of estate planning, with the majority being summarized below:

• 25% think they don’t need to worry about it because they’re “too young”
• 23% feel it isn’t worth their time because they don’t have enough assets
• 18% think it’s too expensive to get a will made
• 8% don’t want to think about dying
• 5% think it’s too time consuming

There have been general studies conducted to find out why people hesitate to make a will. It has been determined that many people are simply avoiding making tough decisions. But why spend time working hard to accumulate assets during your lifetime only to risk having them be distributed without any consideration of your wishes?

There is no harm in starting your estate planning “early” and then periodically reviewing and updating your will and estate plan after a framework has been established. Revisiting plans every five years, as frequently recommended, would greatly reduce the difficulty and time that would be spent once you are older with a larger and more complicated estate.

As well, the expense that can later be incurred as a result of estate litigation is likely to be higher than the cost of making a will now. Alternatively, if you don’t have a large estate, you can make a simple will yourself, although one should be weary of the complications that arise from not seeking professional advice.

The Coronavirus was the wake-up call many Canadians needed to start thinking about their own estate plans. While it is a relief that the pandemic may soon be behind us, the threat of death never truly goes away. Estate planning is a life-long conversation that should be normalized so that one can ultimately “rest in peace” whenever the time may come.

Suzana Popovic-Montag and Ekroop Sekhon