Designating a beneficiary for a life insurance policy just got more complicated with the recent Calmusky v. Calmusky Ontario Superior Court case, overruling a beneficiary designation and ruling a RRIF as part of a deceased’s estate. As a result of this decision, there is a concern that beneficiary designations in favour of adult children in life insurance policies can now be challenged. This could be applicable in all common-law provinces, which excludes Quebec.
Now more than ever, it is crucial to have a detailed conversation with your client about their designations and ensure their intentions are documented both clearly and thoroughly in order to avoid their assets falling into litigation and/or estate.
PPI has created sample wording that can be used to document an individual policy owner’s intentions for naming one or more of their adult children as beneficiary(ies) under the policy. The Documentation of Intention for Beneficiary Designation sample document can be found on the PPI Advisor website (login required).
If you want more information on this case, be sure to read Glenn Stephens’, PPI’s VP of Planning Services, article for Forum magazine, located on our Professional Resource Centre: Beneficiary Challenge, Ontario court decision’s potential impact on beneficiary designations (login required).
Don’t forget to share this article with your clients (direct link to The Link Between article below) to let them know how these legislative changes could affect them and the importance of detailed planning – with you!