{"id":173416,"date":"2025-10-01T18:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/173416\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:41:08","slug":"their-father-died-and-left-6-million-to-their-mother-heres-how-three-siblings-set-a-wealth-transfer-in-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/173416\/","title":{"rendered":"Their father died and left $6-million to their mother. Here\u2019s how three siblings set a wealth transfer in motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Illustration by Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail. Source image: Getty Images.<\/p>\n

The Beneficiary: Following her amicable divorce in 2019 and retirement from design consulting in 2023, 62-year-old \u201cNatalie\u201d faced another big change when her 92-year-old father fell and passed away days later. For Natalie and her two siblings, it was a wakeup call about elderly parents: Though their 89-year-old mother was in seemingly good health, now was the best time to transfer the family wealth in the easiest and most cost-efficient way. Nine months later, they were very glad they did.<\/p>\n

The Inheritance: After her father died, his estate automatically moved to Natalie\u2019s mother. \u201cShe was the beneficiary of everything, which turned out to be a substantial amount,\u201d Natalie said. About $6-million, actually, including a cottage property, and although her mother\u2019s 24-hour care cost a pretty penny, there was still enough money left that Natalie and her siblings feared massive impending tax implications. \u201cWe were so worried that … when she passes, what\u2019s going to happen to that money?\u201d <\/p>\n

A quick lesson about what\u2019s going to happen to that money: Canada has no direct inheritance tax (i.e. dad\u2019s money goes to mom without tax implications), but when the surviving spouse dies, all assets are automatically part of their estate and considered sold at fair market value, which generates a capital gain. Half of any profit is subject to capital gains tax, which means it\u2019ll be lumped into your income for the year and taxed accordingly. <\/p>\n

To avoid that big bill, Natalie and her siblings decided it would be better if they were gifted that money (about $1.8-million each) in chunks in advance \u2013 provided their 89-year-old mom was firmly on board. \u201cI felt like my mom was still cognizant enough to be involved in the conversation, though I was increasingly concerned about her comprehension as she got older,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

When an inheritance comes with stipulations: \u2018They want control from the grave\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

How she went about it: Unsure about either what to do or how to broach the conversation, Natalie approached her mother\u2019s financial institution. \u201cTheir client was really our mom, not the kids, so they\u2019re specifically there to make sure that we weren\u2019t taking advantage, which is very, very important.\u201d <\/p>\n

The financial advisers suggested something Natalie had never even heard of: power of authority. Nope, that\u2019s not a typo: \u201cPower of attorney gives someone the right to make health and financial choices; power of authority lets you ask questions on behalf of the older person but they still ultimately have to sign,\u201d explained Natalie. In her case, power of authority let both parties meet on comfortable middle ground. \u201cIt felt a little more respectful because we weren\u2019t taking away her rights completely.\u201d <\/p>\n

All with her mother\u2019s adviser overseeing the process to ensure her interests were assured and insured, Natalie and her siblings arranged a comfortable living allowance for their mom. They had a mutual agreement and understanding that if she ever needed more funds for additional care, they\u2019d pay for it, and then they began the process of transferring money.<\/p>\n

The only part that proved difficult was the cottage, because the deed had to be adjusted, and a tax bill arrived accordingly. \u201cThe question was then, does this bill go to the estate? Or should it go to the owner of the title?\u201d Here, they disagreed and their relationship became strained. <\/p>\n

What she learned: Before things got worse, Natalie and her siblings agreed to disagree. \u201cWe realized we weren\u2019t on the same page and we weren\u2019t gaining ground so we decided to bring in another voice,\u201d Natalie said. They brought their accountant in as an objective third party to act as mediator. <\/p>\n

Natalie and her siblings had a good relationship to start with, which certainly helps, but they also work hard to keep their bond strong via regular Zoom meetings and a continuing WhatsApp chat. When and if they squabble about money, which happens, Natalie seeks perspective: \u201cOver the course of a lifetime, what\u2019s 10 or 20 thousand dollars? It\u2019s nickels compared to what we received and our relationships are worth much more.\u201d <\/p>\n

All three siblings are executors on the estate and all three benefited significantly when, nine months after their father\u2019s passing, their mother too died suddenly. Her final tax bill was very manageable and, having dodged a huge tax bill, they made some sizable charitable donations for good karma all around. <\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Have you recently received an inheritance and would like to participate in Inherited? Send us an e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Illustration by Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail. Source image: Getty Images.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,11749,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-173416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-personalfinance","12":"tag-r-fp","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}