Harry Potter lost his parents as a baby, found a vault of gold at 11 and inherited a house at 15. Each one is a real estate planning question in Canada. I'm Brian, a Canadian CPA, and I walk through what happens to a kid, the money and the house when the plan falls apart, and what I'd have set up for the Potters.

1. Name a guardian in your will, then name backups, in order. Ask each of them first, and write a short letter saying why you picked them.
2. Split the jobs if you want: 1 person raises the kid, another handles the money. Leave money for the raising, like life insurance.
3. Leave money straight to a kid with no trust and the province steps in. In Ontario, anything over $35,000 is paid into court, and it all lands at 18 or 19.
4. A trust in the will lets you say what the money is for and pay the rest out in stages, like some at 21 and the rest at 25. Outside Quebec, you can name a trustee right on a life insurance beneficiary form.
5. Canada has no inheritance tax, but at death a house is taxed as if it were sold that day. A home is tax free only for the years the owner lived there, plus 1.
6. Inherit a house and wait before big decisions. Get it appraised, call the insurer, then price out a full year and compare living in it, renting it or selling it.

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#estateplanning #canada #harrypotter #wills #trusts #inheritance #personalfinance