At a Glance: Dorothy Hagel, LL.B./JD, CFP
Services: Estate planning, wills, trusts, power of attorney, compliance assistance
Specialty: Regulatory compliance consulting for investment dealers, mutual funds dealers, portfolio managers and financial advisors
Location: 268 Lakeshore Road East, Suite 400, Port Credit
Website: dhestatelaw.com

The inspirational phrase “It’s never too late” may work in many aspects of your life, but not when it comes to estate planning.

“The common-sense approach you have to take is to plan ahead,” explains Dorothy Hagel from her Port Credit law office. “You can’t just hope everything will turn out all right.”

It’s difficult not to take Hagel’s words to heart. An experienced lawyer, she specializes in all aspects of estate planning, administration and litigation. She often witnesses firsthand the tangled financial dilemmas that remain when someone dies and the proper provisions are not made. “People don’t want to talk about these things,” Hagel says. “It’s an uncomfortable topic, I understand that, but once it gets done, nobody ever regrets doing it.”

Effective estate planning is taking control of your own legacy, as Hagel puts it, and making sure that you—not somebody else—decides how your money, property or anything else is handled after your demise. “Knowing that your affairs are in order can provide peace of mind,” she says. “You don’t have to worry about it, and you can focus on other things. It’s my job to make that happen.”

Hagel indicates that people often think they have made the right decisions just by writing their wishes down or telling them to a friend or relative. However, this can lead to problems and she refers to this type of self-help as potentially disastrous. Challenges to these informal procedures can be made which can tie your estate to prolonged and expensive legal fights. That’s why it’s better to make your arrangements legal in advance, through a properly trained expert. “For the sake of saving maybe a few hundred dollars now, it could end up costing your loved ones tens of thousands of dollars or more down the road,” she says.

Proper estate planning must also involve power of attorney. This term is used to describe a legal document that authorizes another person to act on your behalf, be it with financial matters or otherwise when you are unable to act on your own. Hagel believes arranging for power of attorney can be just as valuable as preparing a will because it allows you to direct your future plans and assets if you become incapacitated.

Again, if you choose this route, Hagel suggests you go through the proper legal channels to make sure this procedure is handled in the correct way. “To make sure that it all happens as you wanted, you have to have your affairs handled by a competent estate planner. At the end of the day, we all want to make sure we are doing the right things for ourselves and our families.”

Talking Point: Blended Families
In today’s society, it’s not uncommon to find blended families, where a parent has entered into a second marriage that produces another set of offspring or step-children. This can cause its own set of unique legal headaches when the parent dies. If proper provisions for children of the first marriage aren’t made, all assets could pass directly to the new spouse, leaving the children from the first marriage with no inheritance.

“This happens quite regularly,” says Hagel. “Money, property, family heirlooms can all be out of reach for the children of the first marriage.”

Hagel says that consulting a lawyer with expertise in estate planning can assist you in avoiding these situations, especially those that you may have never considered.