Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to discuss the need for access to will and estate planning for our residents. We do have one GNWT lawyer, a community outreach lawyer, whose job it is to visit communities and provide legal services to our residents. But one lawyer can hardly even begin to make a dent in our residents’ needs around will and estate planning. There’s a huge need to educate people about the need to have a will and another huge need to give residents access to lawyers to draft their wills and help them do estate planning.
Employees of the GNWT have access to assistance with wills and trusts through our Department of Human Resources employee and family assistance programs, employees of large companies usually have access to planning through their company pension plan, and there are will and estate planning sessions offered in Yellowknife and some of our regional centres. But other residents, especially in our small communities, are left to their own devices to do the necessary planning for wills.
It’s not the first thing that people put on their to-do list, nor do many people realize how important it is to spend the money to get a will done, if they can afford it, that is. A will is one of the most important documents in anyone’s life. Without a will, settling estates can be complicated and costly for both the government as well as relatives. When someone dies intestate – that is without a will – the government, the office of the public trustee, and/or the courts must get involved in settling the estate, paying bills, disposing of assets and inheritance and so on. It’s a cost to the government and ultimately to us, the taxpayers. How many residents die intestate in any one year, I wonder? How much does the GNWT spend dealing with the estates of our residents who have died intestate? I have no idea, but I’m sure the costs are considerable.
I would like to see the GNWT offer will and estate planning sessions to NWT residents in all of our communities on a frequent and regular basis. As a government, we would be better served to be proactive, spend a little money up front and ensure residents have access to lawyers whose law practices include will and estate planning, as opposed to dealing with the affairs of residents who die intestate after the fact.
Not every lawyer does estate planning work, nor do they all want to do that kind of work, so we need to hire the right people. They can be found. The access to residents can be made available if the will – joke intended – is there on the part of government. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
