When Rob and Jenna died in a car accident in November 2024, their adult children Ryan and Misha expected to inherit their parents’ $7.9 million estate.
Instead, they faced a $2.07 million tax bill due within 6 months.
But that was just the beginning.
When you factor in all the layers of tax — corporate tax, dividend tax, and probate fees — this family will ultimately pay close to $5 million in total taxes and fees. That’s over 60% of everything Rob and Jenna built over 40 years of marriage.
This isn’t a hypothetical scenario. This is a real family case (anonymized for privacy) that we worked on at Cedar Consulting Group. And variations of this story happen to Canadian families every single day.
In this article, I’ll walk you through exactly what happens when someone dies in Canada from a tax perspective, using Rob and Jenna’s actual numbers. You’ll see:
- How the “deemed disposition” rules trigger massive tax bills
- Why probate is calculated on gross value (not profit) and what that costs
- The $669,000 mistake that could have been avoided with simple planning
- What executors need to do to protect themselves from personal liability
- The liquidity crisis that forces families to sell businesses at steep discounts
By the end, you’ll understand why death is often the most expensive transaction a family will ever face — and what you can do to protect your own family.
Table of Contents
- Meet Rob and Jenna: The Family Structure
- What They Owned: $7.9M in Assets
- The Simultaneous Death Rule
- The Terminal Return Tax Calculation: $1.95M
- Probate Fees: $112K on Top
- The $669K LCGE Mistake
- The Liquidity Crisis: Where Does $2M Come From?
- Business Continuity Risk
- The Triple Tax on Corporate Assets
- Executor Personal Liability
- What This Family Should Have Done
- Your Estate Planning Checklist
Meet Rob and Jenna: The Family Structure
Rob was 65. Jenna was 64. They had been married for 40 years and had two adult children: Ryan (32) and Misha (35).
Rob was a business owner. He built his company from scratch over 30 years. Jenna supported the business in its early days but had stepped back as the company grew. Both Ryan and Misha worked in the family business and were familiar with the operations.
On paper, this family was successful. They owned valuable assets. They had good advisors. They had wills.
But when they died together in a car accident on November 15, 2024, their estate planning fell catastrophically short.
Here’s what went wrong — and what you need to learn from it.
What They Owned: $7.9M in Assets
When Rob and Jenna died, here’s what they owned:
- Principal Residence: $1,000,000
- Purchase price: $400,000
- Fair market value at death: $1,000,000
- Capital gain: $600,000
- Good news: Principal residence exemption (PRE) means $0 tax on this gain
- RRSPs: $400,000 Total
- Rob’s RRSP: $200,000
- Jenna’s RRSP: $200,000
- Named beneficiaries: Each other (primary), Ryan and Misha (secondary)
- Holdco (Holding Company): $1,500,000
- Rob owned 100% of the shares
- Adjusted cost base (ACB): $1 (what he originally paid)
- Capital gain: $1,499,999
Inside Holdco:
- Rental property: $800,000
- Investment portfolio (stocks): $700,000
- Opco (Operating Company — Rob’s Business): $5,000,000
- Rob owned 100% of the shares
- Adjusted cost base: $1 (he started the business from nothing)
- Capital gain: $5,000,000
Inside Opco:
- Business operations: ~$4,000,000
- Intercompany loan to Holdco: $500,000
- Excess cash reserves: $500,000
Total Net Worth: $7,900,000
On paper, this looks like a very successful estate. But when the tax rules kicked in, this wealth turned into a massive problem.
The Simultaneous Death Rule: Why Timing Matters
Here’s something most people don’t know about Canadian tax law:
If Rob and Jenna had died in different years, the tax bill at the first death would have been $0.
That’s because of the spousal rollover rule.
In Canada, when you die and your spouse survives you, your assets can roll over to your spouse tax-free. No deemed disposition. No capital gains tax. Everything transfers at your original cost (adjusted cost base).
So if Rob had died first and Jenna survived him:
- All of Rob’s assets would roll to Jenna tax-deferred
- The house, Holdco shares, Opco shares — everything transfers at Rob’s ACB
- The tax would only come due when Jenna eventually died
But Rob and Jenna died together. Same car accident. Same day.
When both spouses die simultaneously, there’s no surviving spouse to roll the assets to. Under the Income Tax Act, the older spouse (Rob) is deemed to have died first, his assets roll to Jenna, and then Jenna is deemed to have died immediately after.
Result: All the capital gains get triggered at once.
This is critical to understand: even if you’re not married, the same deemed disposition rules apply to you — you just don’t get the benefit of the spousal rollover. So if anything, the tax hits even harder.
The Terminal Return Tax Calculation: $1.95M
When someone dies in Canada, the executor must file what’s called a terminal return — the deceased person’s final personal tax return.
Here’s the brutal part: CRA pretends you sold everything the moment before you died.
Even though nothing was actually sold. And no cash changed hands.
This is called deemed disposition.
CRA calculates the capital gains on all your capital property and taxes you on those gains. Let’s walk through what got taxed for Rob and Jenna.
The RRSPs: $214,120 in Tax
Rob had $200,000 in his RRSP. Jenna had $200,000 in hers.
Normally, if your spouse is the named beneficiary on your RRSP, your RRSP can roll over to your spouse’s RRSP tax-free when you die.
In this case, Rob named Jenna as his primary beneficiary, and Jenna named Rob as her primary beneficiary. But because they both died at the same time, the RRSPs went to the secondary beneficiaries — Ryan and Misha.
So both RRSPs collapsed into income. No rollover. Fully taxable.
Total RRSP income: $400,000
Now, Canada has graduated tax brackets. But with $3.2 million in total income on the terminal return, virtually all of it is taxed at Ontario’s top marginal rate of 53.53%.
Tax on RRSPs: $214,120
The Principal Residence: $0 in Tax
The house was worth $1 million. Rob and Jenna paid $400,000 for it. So there’s a $600,000 capital gain.
But here’s the good news: Canada has something called the principal residence exemption (PRE).
If the house was your principal residence for all the years you owned it, the capital gain is tax-free.
In this case, it was their principal residence.
Tax on house: $0
The Holdco Shares: $401,475 in Tax
Rob owned shares in a holding company worth $1.5 million. His cost was $1. So there’s a $1.5 million capital gain.
In Canada, only 50% of a capital gain is taxable (the capital gains inclusion rate).
Taxable amount: $750,000
At Ontario’s top marginal rate of 53.53%:
Tax on Holdco shares: $401,475
Now, there’s actually a triple tax that happens on the rental property inside Holdco. When Ryan and Misha sell that property and try to get the cash out of the corporation, there’s corporate tax and then dividend tax on top of the capital gains tax we just calculated.
I covered the full triple tax calculation in my video “CRA Takes 80% When You Die“. But for now, just know that this $401,475 is only the first layer of tax on the Holdco assets.
The Opco Shares: $1,338,250 in Tax
Rob’s business was worth $5 million. His cost? $1. So there’s a $5 million capital gain.
50% of that is taxable.
Taxable amount: $2,500,000
At 53.53%:
Tax on Opco shares: $1,338,250
Total Terminal Return Tax: $1,953,845
Let’s add it up:
- RRSPs: $214,120
- House: $0 (PRE exemption)
- Holdco shares: $401,475
- Opco shares: $1,338,250
Total terminal return tax: $1,953,845
This tax is due within 6 months of death. In this case, Rob and Jenna died November 15, 2024. The terminal return was due May 15, 2025.
And the clock starts ticking immediately.
Probate Fees: $112K on Top
Most people think that $1.95 million is the full tax bill.
It’s not.
There’s another cost: probate.
Probate is a legal process. When someone dies, their executor has to apply to the court to get legal authority to administer the estate. In Ontario, that’s called a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee.
And Ontario charges a fee for that. It’s called Estate Administration Tax. Most people just call it probate fees.
How Ontario Probate Fees Work
- First $50,000: $0
- Over $50,000: 1.5%
What Makes Probate Worse Than Income Tax
Here’s the key difference most people miss:
Income tax is calculated on your gain (what you made).
Probate is calculated on the gross value of your assets (everything you own).
Let’s use the house as an example:
- Purchase price: $400,000
- Fair market value: $1,000,000
- Capital gain: $600,000
Income tax: Calculated on the $600,000 gain. But with the principal residence exemption, tax = $0.
Probate: Calculated on the full $1,000,000 value.
You’re paying probate on the same dollars that already got hit with income tax. It’s a double hit on your estate’s value.
Which Assets Go Through Probate?
Not all assets go through probate. Here’s the breakdown for Rob and Jenna’s estate:
Subject to probate:
- House: $1,000,000 ✓
- Holdco shares: $1,500,000 ✓
- Opco shares: $5,000,000 ✓
Bypass probate:
- RRSPs: $400,000 ✗ (named beneficiaries bypass probate)
Total probate base: $7,500,000
Probate fee calculation: ($7,500,000 – $50,000) × 1.5% = $111,750
Is Probate Required?
Technically, probate is not legally required in Ontario.
But in practice, it’s almost always necessary.
Why? Because banks, land registry offices, and other institutions won’t release assets or transfer titles without a court-issued Certificate of Appointment.
So while it’s not mandatory by law, it’s functionally required.
Total Due Within 6 Months
Let’s add it up:
- Terminal return tax: $1,953,845
- Probate fees: $111,750
Total due within 6 months: $2,065,595
The $669K LCGE Mistake: The Biggest Planning Error
Now let me show you how this family could have saved $669,000 with proper planning.
In Canada, there’s something called the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE).
If you own shares in a qualified small business corporation (QSBC), you can sell those shares and shelter up to $1.25 million of capital gains from tax.
That’s $334,500 in tax savings per person.
Rob had $1.25 million in LCGE room. Jenna had $1.25 million in LCGE room.
Combined: $2.5 million in tax-free capital gains available.
That would have saved them $669,000 in taxes.
Why Didn’t They Use It?
Because Rob’s business (Opco) didn’t qualify for the LCGE.
The 90% Active Business Asset Test
To qualify for the LCGE, 90% or more of your company’s assets must be used in an active business.
Remember Opco’s structure:
- Business operations: $4,000,000 (80%)
- Intercompany loan to Holdco: $500,000 (10%)
- Excess cash reserves: $500,000 (10%)
Passive assets: $1,000,000 (20%)
Result: Opco failed the 90% test.
CRA treats intercompany loans and excess cash reserves as passive assets, not active business assets.
The 12-Month Purification Window
Here’s what makes this even more frustrating:
There’s a rule that says if your company met the 90% test at any time in the 12 months before death, it can still qualify for the LCGE.
This is called the purification window.
All Rob had to do was:
- Repay the $500,000 intercompany loan from Holdco
- Take the $500,000 excess cash out via dividend or shareholder loan repayment
- Restructure to get back above the 90% threshold
This would have taken about 2-4 weeks to implement.
But he didn’t do it. And Opco had passive assets throughout the entire 12-month period before his death.
The Cost of Inaction
$669,000. Gone.
Not because of a mistake. Not because of bad advice.
Because no one got around to it.
This is one of the most common and most expensive estate planning failures I see in practice. Business owners know they should clean up their corporate structure. Their accountant has mentioned it. But it never feels urgent.
Until it’s too late.
The Liquidity Crisis: Where Does $2M Come From?
Let’s step back for a moment.
The estate owes $2,065,595. Due in 6 months.
Where does that money come from?
What the Estate Actually Owns
The house: Worth $1 million, but you can’t sell it in 6 months without taking a significant loss. And even if you could, there are real estate commissions (5%), legal fees, land transfer taxes. A forced sale in 6 months might net you $900,000 instead of $1 million.
The RRSPs: $400,000 went directly to Ryan and Misha as named beneficiaries. The RRSPs bypass the estate, so the estate can’t use that money to pay the tax bill.
Holdco and Opco shares: Worth $6.5 million combined. But they’re shares in private companies. You can’t just sell them on the stock market. And even if you found a buyer, the due diligence and sale process takes 6-12 months minimum.
The Problem
The estate has $7.9 million in assets.
But almost none of it is liquid.
This is what I call the liquidity crisis.
Most estates don’t have $2 million sitting in a bank account. So the executors have three options — and none of them are good.
Option 1: Sell Assets (Forced Sale)
Force a sale of the house or the business.
Downside: Forced sales mean selling at a discount. When buyers know you’re under time pressure (6-month deadline to pay taxes), they negotiate hard. You might sell a $5 million business for $4 million because you need cash NOW.
Option 2: Borrow
The estate can take out a loan or line of credit to pay the tax bill.
Downside: You’re paying interest on $2 million. Even at a reasonable rate of 6%, that’s $120,000 per year in interest. And if the estate can’t make the payments (because assets are still illiquid), you’re back to Option 1: forced asset sales.
Option 3: CRA Payment Plan
CRA does offer payment arrangements for estates that can’t pay the full amount by the deadline.
Downside: CRA charges interest. We’ve seen rates as high as 9% annually, compounded daily.
That means each day, you’re paying interest on the previous day’s interest charges.
Example: $2 million at 9% compounded daily = ~$187,000 in interest over one year.
What This Family Did
Ryan and Misha chose Option 2: They borrowed $2 million.
They paid approximately $180,000 in interest over 2 years before they could liquidate assets and pay off the loan.
All because there was no liquidity plan.
The Solution That Should Have Been In Place
Life insurance.
A $2 million term life insurance policy on Rob’s life would have cost approximately $3,000-$5,000 per year (depending on his health).
Over 10 years, that’s $30,000-$50,000 in premiums.
Instead, the family paid $180,000 in interest charges on a forced loan.
And that doesn’t even account for the opportunity cost of having $2 million tied up paying taxes instead of being invested or used to grow the business.
Life insurance solves the liquidity problem. The insurance payout provides immediate cash to pay the tax bill, so the family doesn’t have to sell assets at a discount or pay massive interest charges.
Business Continuity Risk: What Happens to Opco?
Let’s talk about Rob’s business.
Opco was worth $5 million. It was profitable. It employed people. It had clients, suppliers, and banking relationships.
But when Rob died, there was no formal succession plan.
What Saved This Business
Luckily, Ryan and Misha both worked in the business. They knew the operations. They knew the clients. They knew the key suppliers.
So when Rob died, they could step in immediately and keep the business running.
But what if they hadn’t been involved?
What if Ryan and Misha had their own careers? What if they lived in different cities? What if they had no interest in running the business?
What Happens Without a Succession Plan
Without a clear succession plan, here’s what typically happens:
Week 1-2:
- Key clients start calling: “Who’s in charge now?”
- Employees panic: “Is the business being sold? Will I have a job?”
- The bank gets nervous: “Who has signing authority?”
Month 1-3:
- Key clients leave for competitors
- Top employees start looking for new jobs
- Suppliers tighten credit terms or demand cash on delivery
Month 3-6:
- Revenue drops 30-50% as clients and employees leave
- The business valuation plummets
- Buyers sense desperation and make lowball offers
A $5 million business can become a $2 million business (or less) very quickly if there’s no leadership transition plan.
The Problem Even WITH Ryan and Misha
Even though Ryan and Misha could run the business, there was still a problem:
They own a business worth $5 million, but they owe $1.34 million in taxes on those shares.
To pay that tax, they might need to take cash out of the business as dividends or salary. Which means:
- Less capital for growth
- Less room for reinvestment
- Forced financial decisions instead of strategic ones
This is the hidden cost of poor estate planning.
It’s not just the tax. It’s the disruption. The forced decisions. The loss of optionality.
The Triple Tax on Corporate Assets
Remember at the beginning when I said the $2.07 million was just the beginning?
Here’s why.
The terminal return tax we calculated — the $1.95 million — is the tax on the deemed disposition of the shares.
But the money is still trapped inside the corporations.
Holdco owns a rental property ($800,000) and a stock portfolio ($700,000). Opco has $4 million in business operations.
When Ryan and Misha sell those assets and try to extract the cash from the corporations, there are additional layers of tax.
The Triple Tax on Holdco’s Rental Property
Let’s walk through what happens when Ryan and Misha sell the rental property inside Holdco.
Purchase price: $400,000
Fair market value: $800,000
Capital gain: $400,000
Layer 1: Personal capital gains tax (already paid):
- Included in the terminal return: $1.5M gain on Holdco shares
- Tax already paid: $401,475
Layer 2: Corporate capital gains tax:
- When Holdco sells the rental property, the corporation pays tax on the gain
- Taxable gain: $400,000 × 50% = $200,000
- Corporate tax rate on investment income: 50.17%
- Corporate tax: $200,000 × 50.17% = $100,340
Layer 3: Dividend tax:
- After paying corporate tax, Holdco has $699,660 left ($800,000 – $100,340)
- $200,000 can be paid out as a tax-free capital dividend (the non-taxable portion of the capital gain)
- Remaining $499,660 is paid as a taxable dividend
- Personal dividend tax rate (non-eligible): 47.74%
- Dividend tax: $499,660 × 47.74% = $238,538
Total tax on rental property:
- Layer 1: $107,060 (portion of Holdco terminal return tax)
- Layer 2: $100,340 (corporate tax)
- Layer 3: $238,538 (dividend tax)
Total: $445,938
Out of the $800,000 rental property, Ryan and Misha net approximately $354,000 after all three layers of tax.
Effective tax rate: 55.7%
This is the triple tax. And it applies to all corporate passive assets.
What About Opco?
For Opco, it’s slightly different because it’s an active business, but there’s still a double tax.
Layer 1: Capital gains tax (already paid):
- $1,338,250 on the deemed disposition of shares
Layer 2: Dividend tax:
- When Ryan and Misha take money out of Opco as dividends (to pay personal expenses, for example), they pay dividend tax on top of the capital gains tax already paid
The exact amount depends on:
- Whether the business has a GRIP balance (which allows eligible dividends at a lower tax rate)
- How much money they take out and when
But in the worst case (all non-eligible dividends), the effective tax rate can approach 75% when you combine capital gains tax + dividend tax.
Can This Be Reduced?
Yes. There are post-mortem tax planning strategies that can significantly reduce or eliminate the second and third layers of tax:
- Pipeline transactions
- Bump Transaction
- Loss carryback strategies (subsection 164(6))
But these strategies need to be implemented by the executors after death, and they require sophisticated tax knowledge.
The better approach? Structure things properly before death so you don’t need complex post-mortem planning.
Executor Personal Liability: The Risk No One Talks About
Ryan and Misha are the executors of their parents’ estate.
That means they’re legally responsible for:
- Filing the terminal tax return
- Paying all taxes owing
- Distributing assets to beneficiaries
And here’s what most people don’t realize:
Executors are personally liable for mistakes.
What Personal Liability Means
If Ryan and Misha:
- File the terminal return with incorrect valuations, and
- CRA reassesses and says more tax is owing, and
- They’ve already distributed the estate assets to themselves
Ryan and Misha are personally liable for the unpaid taxes.
CRA can go after their personal assets — their houses, bank accounts, investments — to collect the tax debt.
How This Happens in Practice
Here’s a real scenario (not Rob and Jenna, but a different client case):
Year 1: Executor hires an accountant. Files the terminal return. Pays $800,000 in tax. Distributes the estate to beneficiaries.
Year 3: CRA sends a Notice of Reassessment. “The business valuation was too low. We believe the business was worth $5 million, not $4 million. Additional tax owing: $267,000. Plus interest. Plus penalties.”
Total reassessment: $350,000.
But the executor already distributed the estate. The money is gone. The beneficiaries spent it, invested it, or bought property with it.
CRA goes after the executor personally.
The executor ends up paying $350,000 out of their own pocket — or trying to sue the beneficiaries to get the money back (which is expensive and often unsuccessful).
How to Protect Yourself as an Executor
- Get professional appraisals for everything
- Real estate: Licensed real estate appraiser
- Business: Chartered Business Valuator (CBV)
- Investments: Market value as of date of death
- Personal property: Professional appraiser if valuable
Don’t guess. Don’t use your parent’s old paperwork from 5 years ago.
- Use the correct valuation date
- Valuations must be as of the date of death
- Not last year’s financial statements
- Not an estimate
One of the most common errors we see: An executor uses last year’s business valuation instead of getting a new one as of the date of death. CRA reassesses 2 years later. Executor is on the hook for the difference.
- Get a CRA clearance certificate before distributing the estate
This is the single most important step to protect yourself.
A clearance certificate is a document from CRA that says “all taxes have been paid, you’re clear to distribute the estate.”
To get it, you file Form TX19 (“Asking for a Clearance Certificate”) after filing the terminal return and paying all taxes.
CRA reviews the return and either:
- Issues the clearance certificate (you’re protected), or
- Sends a Notice of Reassessment (you know about the problem before distributing)
Without a clearance certificate, you’re gambling with your own money.
If you distribute the estate and CRA reassesses later, you’re personally liable.
Clearance certificates typically take 4-6 months after filing the terminal return. So the full estate settlement process typically takes 1.5 to 3 years from date of death to final distribution.
Executors who try to speed up the process by distributing before getting clearance are taking a huge personal risk.
What Rob and Jenna Should Have Done: The Planning That Could Have Saved $1M+
So what could Rob and Jenna have done differently?
Here are the strategies that would have saved this family over $1 million in taxes:
Purify Opco to Preserve the LCGE ($669,000 savings)
The problem: $1 million in passive assets (interco loan + excess cash) disqualified Opco from LCGE.
The solution:
- Repay the $500,000 intercompany loan from Holdco to Opco
- Take the $500,000 excess cash out of Opco via dividend or shareholder loan repayment
- Get Opco back above the 90% active business asset threshold
Time required: 2-4 weeks
Cost to implement: $5,000-$10,000 in accounting and legal fees
Tax savings: $669,000
This is the most obvious and most frustrating missed opportunity. Rob’s accountant had flagged this issue multiple times. But it never felt urgent.
Implement an Estate Freeze ($300,000+ savings)
The problem: All future growth in Opco accrues to Rob personally, creating a larger and larger tax bill as the business grows.
The solution:
- Rob “freezes” his common shares at today’s value ($5M)
- Exchange common shares for fixed-value preferred shares
- Issue new growth shares to a family trust (with Ryan and Misha as beneficiaries)
- All future growth accrues to Ryan and Misha, not Rob
Result:
- Rob’s tax bill is capped at $5M (frozen value)
- If the business grows to $8M by the time Rob dies, that extra $3M in growth is taxed in Ryan and Misha’s hands (at potentially lower rates)
- Estimated savings: $300,000-$500,000 depending on business growth
Purchase Life Insurance ($2M policy)
The problem: No liquidity to pay $2.07M tax bill.
The solution:
- $2M term life insurance policy on Rob’s life
- Corporately owned (Opco owns the policy)
- Proceeds paid to Opco on Rob’s death
- Creates capital dividend account (CDA) that can be paid out tax-free to estate
Cost: Approximately $3,000-$5,000/year in premiums (depending on Rob’s age and health)
Benefit: Eliminates the $180,000 in interest charges the family paid to borrow money to pay taxes
Implement Dual Wills ($111,000 savings)
The problem: Probate fees of $111,750 on $7.5M estate.
The solution:
- Primary Will: Covers assets requiring probate (real estate, public securities)
- Secondary Will: Covers assets not requiring probate (private company shares)
In Ontario, private company shares don’t legally require probate. But most executors file for probate anyway because they’re uncertain.
With a properly structured dual will, Opco shares ($5M) and Holdco shares ($1.5M) would go through the Secondary Will and avoid probate entirely.
Probate savings:
- Without dual wills: $111,750
- With dual wills: ~$15,000 (probate only on $1M house)
- Savings: ~$97,000
Cost to implement: $3,000-$5,000 in legal fees
Establish a Formal Succession Plan (Priceless)
The problem: No documented plan for business continuity.
The solution:
- Formal succession plan naming Ryan and Misha as successors
- Documented transition timeline and responsibilities
- Key person insurance on Rob
- Cross-training and knowledge transfer while Rob is alive
- Shareholder agreement with buy-sell provisions
Benefit: Protects the $5M business value from evaporating due to client/employee departures
Total Potential Savings From Proper Planning
Let’s add it up:
- LCGE purification: $669,000
- Estate freeze: $300,000 (conservative estimate)
- Life insurance (avoid interest charges): $180,000
- Dual wills (probate reduction): $97,000
Total: $1,246,000 in savings
Cost to implement all strategies: $50,000-$75,000 in professional fees
Return on investment: 1,500%+
Your Estate Planning Checklist: Don't Let This Happen to Your Family
If you’re a business owner, a high-net-worth individual, or you have aging parents who own a business or real estate, you need to take action.
Estate planning isn’t something you do once and forget about. It requires regular review and updates.
We’ve created a comprehensive Estate Planning Checklist that walks you through every step you need to take to protect your family from the tax disaster that happened to Rob and Jenna.
The checklist includes:
✅ How to calculate your exact estate tax exposure
✅ LCGE eligibility verification (the 90% active business test)
✅ Tax-saving strategies to implement before death
✅ Legal documents you need (wills, powers of attorney, shareholder agreements)
✅ Succession planning framework
✅ How to reduce probate fees
✅ Executor responsibilities and how to protect yourself from personal liability
✅ Annual review schedule
✅ Red flags that require immediate action
By downloading this checklist, you’ll also receive occasional emails from The Advisors Table with Canadian tax insights and strategies. Unsubscribe anytime.
The Bottom Line
Rob and Jenna had $7.9 million in assets.
Within 6 months of their death, their estate owed $2.07 million in taxes and probate fees.
When you factor in all the layers of tax, the total tax burden approaches $5 million — over 60% of everything they built.
Out of $7.9 million, Ryan and Misha will inherit approximately $3 million after all taxes are paid.
Most of this was avoidable.
With proper planning:
- The LCGE mistake could have saved $669,000
- An estate freeze could have saved $300,000+
- Life insurance could have saved $180,000 in interest charges
- Dual wills could have saved $97,000 in probate fees
Total potential savings: Over $1.2 million
But the planning wasn’t done. And now it’s too late.
Don’t Let This Happen to Your Family
If you’re reading this, you still have time.
Download the Estate Planning Checklist above and start working through it today.
And if you need help implementing these strategies, book a consultation with Cedar Consulting Group. We specialize in tax planning for business owners and high-net-worth families.
This isn’t about avoiding tax. This is about making sure your family doesn’t lose half of what you built because you didn’t plan.
Watch the Full Video Breakdown
I walk through this entire case study — including all the calculations and visual breakdowns — in my YouTube video:
Need Professional Help?
Cedar Consulting Group specializes in tax planning for Canadian business owners and high-net-worth families.
We help you:
- Calculate your exact estate tax exposure
- Implement LCGE planning and purification strategies
- Structure estate freezes and succession plans
- Reduce probate fees and overall tax burden
- Coordinate with your legal and insurance advisors
Book a consultation: Contact Cedar Consulting Group
About the Author
Sunny Jaggi, CPA, CA, MTax, CFF
Sunny is a Tax Principal at Cedar Consulting Group with over 15 years of experience in Canadian tax advisory. He specializes in helping business owners and high-net-worth families navigate complex tax decisions, including estate planning, business reorganizations, and succession planning.
Sunny co-hosts The Advisors Table Podcast, where he breaks down complex Canadian tax strategies into simple, actionable insights for business owners.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Estate planning is complex and highly specific to individual circumstances. You should consult with qualified professionals (CPA, lawyer, financial advisor) before implementing any strategies. Tax laws change frequently — ensure you’re working with current legislation.
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