If you’re moving because you’ve bought a new home, you should take steps to protect your new asset and your belongings that you’re packing up – and it’s not just the financial value you need to protect. Many of your most cherished memories will take place at your home and your home’s sentimental value will grow exponentially. Making a will allow you to choose a beneficiary/beneficiaries to receive the financial and sentimental value of your home and the contents in it. If you don’t have one, what you own may not be passed on the way you want it to be. We know that when you signed the papers to your new home you probably didn’t expect to also sign a will, but life is unpredictable and having a plan in place outlining how you would like your belongings to be passed on is so important. Without one, your surviving family members will be faced with difficult guesswork and arguments may arise between family members with different ideas about what you would have wanted.

A large number of Canadians also have an outdated will due to a change in their life like marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child. So moving means it’s a good time to review an existing will to see if anything has changed – for example, if you got a divorce and want to avoid your home ending up with your ex-spouse because you never got around to updating your will.