Planning ahead for what matters.
A guided intake built with your estate lawyer in mind — complete enough for them to draft your will and Powers of Attorney, and thorough enough to give your family clarity when it matters most.
How this works
- Complete it in one sitting or across many — every answer saves automatically.
- Some sections only appear if they apply to you. The form adapts as you go.
- Share a collaboration link with your spouse or partner to complete it together.
- When finished, submit securely to your Cherry Hill team for review and coordination with your lawyer.
Your personal information.
Let's start with the basics — enough for your lawyer to identify you properly and keep your file in order.
If you hold citizenship in more than one country, your estate may have cross-border tax implications worth flagging for your lawyer.
Registered status under the Indian Act can affect how certain assets, including reserve land, are handled in an estate. Your lawyer needs to know.
US citizenship can pass through birth, which may create cross-border tax obligations worth flagging early.
Your spouse or partner.
If you have a spouse or common-law partner, your lawyer will need their details as well.
Children and dependents.
Everyone who depends on you financially — and everyone you'd want your will to account for.
Executors and trustees.
The person who carries out your wishes — and, if there's a trust, the person who manages it over time.
Most people name their spouse as primary executor, and adult children, family members, or close friends as alternates. We recommend at least two — a primary and an alternate — to cover the possibility that one may be unable to act when the time comes.
Add Executor 2 — optional co-executor or alternate
Add Executor 3 — optional second alternate
Acting as executor is a real commitment. It's worth confirming before the will is signed.
If your will creates a trust — for minor children, a beneficiary with a disability, or for tax reasons — your trustee may be the same as your executor, or may be someone different. Leave this subsection blank if the same people should handle both roles.
Add Trustee 2 — optional co-trustee or alternate
Add Trustee 3 — optional second alternate
Powers of Attorney.
Who manages your financial and legal affairs if you can't manage them yourself.
A Power of Attorney authorizes someone to manage your finances, property, and legal affairs on your behalf. Depending on how it's drafted, it can take effect immediately or only if you lose capacity. In Ontario this instrument is called a Power of Attorney for Property — the concept is the same.
Your spouse is not automatically your Attorney. You need to name one — and we recommend at least one alternate. The word "attorney" here doesn't mean a lawyer; it means the person you're authorizing to act on your behalf.
Add Attorney 2 — optional co-attorney or alternate
Add Attorney 3 — optional second alternate
For each category below, check every situation where you'd like your Attorney(s) to have authority. Leave blank if you don't want that authority granted.
Representation Agreement.
Who makes health care and personal care decisions for you when you can't make them yourself.
In British Columbia, a Representation Agreement is the legal instrument for appointing someone to make your health and personal care decisions if you lose capacity. In Ontario, the equivalent is a Power of Attorney for Personal Care. The questions below apply to both.
Add Representative 2 — optional co-representative or alternate
Add Representative 3 — optional second alternate
Check each authority you'd like your Representative(s) to have.
Check anything that applies. These guide your Representative(s) and give your family peace of mind.
Estate distribution.
How you want your assets divided among the people and causes you care about.
There are two kinds of distributions. Specific gifts — a defined item or amount going to a defined person or charity. Residual gifts — everything else, after debts, taxes, and specific gifts have been paid. Think through both.
Skip this subsection if everything you own is going into the residual estate below.
After debts, taxes, and the specific gifts above are paid, everything else — the residual estate — is distributed here. We step through the cascade in case someone predeceases you.
Often called the "common family disaster" provision — rare, but your lawyer will draft for it.
Any specific charities you'd like to include in your will. These sit alongside the specific gifts above — this subsection just gives them a dedicated place.
Business interests.
If you own a business or hold shares in one, your estate plan needs to address it specifically.
Funeral and legacy wishes.
Telling your family what you'd want — so they don't have to guess in their hardest moment.
Including these wishes in your will isn't legally required, but it saves your family from having to guess. Whatever you put here will also populate your Family Guidance & Final Instructions document.
Register your decision at register.transplant.bc.ca (BC) or beadonor.ca (Ontario).
Your other advisors.
The professionals who help you with everything else — so we can coordinate, and so your lawyer has the full picture.
We coordinate with your other advisors directly when there's value in doing so — a tax question between your accountant and your estate, a document your lawyer needs, an insurance policy change that matters to your plan. Having their contact information on file lets us act on your behalf without having to ask every time.
If you already have one, list them here. If not, leave it blank — we'll introduce you.
Anyone else worth us coordinating with — a corporate lawyer, a family-office consultant, a benefits administrator.
Advisors located outside British Columbia may require a Power of Attorney in their own jurisdiction. We'll flag this if it applies to you.
Assets held outside Cherry Hill.
Your Cherry Hill team maintains a current inventory of what we manage. This section is for everything else.
Your Cherry Hill team maintains a current inventory of the assets you hold with us. We'll provide that summary to your lawyer alongside your completed questionnaire.
This section is for anything held outside Cherry Hill — real estate, other advisors' accounts, private business interests, valuable personal property. Your lawyer needs a complete picture, and we want to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Document vault.
Upload the documents your lawyer and your family will need — or tell us where to find them.
Anything relevant that you can find: existing will and any prior wills, Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements, marriage / cohabitation / separation agreements, life insurance policies, property deeds, shareholder or partnership agreements, prior trust documents, or anything else that might matter.
For originals that live outside the files you've uploaded — where to find them physically.
The best-drafted estate plan can still lead to months of searching if nobody knows where the paperwork is. A short conversation with your executor is worth it.
Digital assets.
The accounts, files, and online lives that need to be closed, transferred, or preserved.
Recurring services your family will need to cancel — streaming, software, memberships, news.
Domain names, online businesses, royalty accounts, gaming accounts with value, NFTs — anything else worth flagging.
Anything else.
Anything you want your Cherry Hill team — or your lawyer — to know that didn't fit anywhere else.