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TERRACE — According |

to Terrace Lawyer Ed-

_ mond de Walle, everyone

shout have a will, as wills

are important. De Walle -

held a workshop on Wills:

and Estates ‘recently at.
the Terrace Public | Lib- -

Tary.

by Daniele Derqube™ :
First de Walle explained

that a will. is. a written

document by which a per-

son expresses. or declares:

their wishes as to. the dis-
position of their property
after death. -

Ina will an Executor
Trustee may be appointed 7
to administer one’s estate |

and to carry out a person’s
wishes as expressed in the
will, explained de Walle, .

A guardian can also be.

| appointed for the care of a_—
infant children.

and‘an individual can also

express his or her wishes .

‘regarding funeral arrange-
ments, said de Walle.
‘What property can a
person dispose of in a
will? A person may dis-
pose of his estate such as
land and generally what-
ever is erected Or growing
upon or. affixed to his
land. Other personal pro-
perty such as goods - and
chattels owned by the
‘deceased can also be dis-
posed of in a will,

. However, -explained : de
Walle, one’s estate does
not include life.insurance,
registered: retirement say-
ings plans, annuities and
similar benefits which are
payable to a named bene-
ficiary; nor does it include
property which is owned

in joint tenancy by one or -

more other persons.

De Walle explained fur-
ther that if a person owns
property in a joint tenancy
with a spouse upon one or
the other’s death, the un-
divided half of the proper-
ty passes by law to the one
surviving spouse. It does
not pass under the deceas-
ed’s will.

- However, if a person
owns a home in tenancy-

in-ecommon with their

$pouse, upon one’s death |
the undivided one half in-
terest in the property is.
part of one’s estate and

- passes under the deceas-

ed's will or to the person’s
heirs-at-law if a person
dies without a will.

With respect to real
property, de Walle said
the legal presumption is
that co-owners are
tenants-in-common unless
the title. to the property
states that the co-owners
are joint tenants. The legal
presumption is that co-
owners are joint tenants
unless the. title shows
otherwise.

If a person dies without
a will, the Estate Ad-
ministration Act governs
who will inherit your es-

‘tate; or in other words

who are your heirs-at-law.
This is also known as the
intestate succession. In-
testate meaning dying

without a will and testate |

means dying with a will,
explained de Walle.

if a person dies without
appointing a guardian for

’ their children and there is

no surviving parent who
has custody of the chil-
dren, the Public Trustee

becomes the guardian of.

the estate of the infant

children and- the Superin-

tendent of. Child Welfare

becomes the guardian of.
_the infant children. In
‘order for a ‘relative or
other person to become
“guardian of the children,
an application must be
‘made to: the Supreme
_Court for an order to ap-

point that relative or per-
son, -

What about claims
against one’s estate by
separated spouses, com-

-mon law spouses and il-

legitimate children?
‘Separated spouses: ‘If a
person dies without a will,
the spouse takes no part of
the estate if immediately
preceding death, the de-
ceased and spouse were

separated for not less than

one year. with the intention
of living: apart, and had
not during that period liv-

.ed together with ‘the inten-.

tion of resuming cohabita-
tion unless the court on
the. application of ‘the
spouse orders, otherwise.
Common law spouses:
A common law spouse is
defined as a person who is
united to. another. person
by a marriage that, al-
though not a legal mar-

rS

Lee Maximchuk, 7, (eft) and Sammy Schachner, 6, of the sixth
Uplands Beavers, spent time at Skeena Mail recently making
bird houses and feeders in conjunction with Scout-Guide

Week in Terrace Feb. 15 - 22.

Photo by Daniele Berquist,

Employment
options |

open

TERRACE — A new pro-
gram: sponsored by the
Terrace Chamber of Com-

merce could provide em- .

ployment for those need-

ing it.

by Daniele Berquist |
Lisa Lacroix of Terrace

‘was appointed to her post

as manager of the Hospi-
tality Training Program
earlier this month. ;

‘Lacroix said the pro-

-gram was established to
' upgrade standards of food

service in Terrace for the
upcoming tourist season
as well as provide. employ-
ment for those needing it.

The funding for 15 ap-
plicants was made possible
by Employment and Im-

migration Canada, stated

Lacroix.

The duration of the —

studies is expected to last

. 16 weeks in total. How-

ever, the course will be
divided into eight weeks of
classroom instruction at
Northwest Community
College followed by eight
weeks of practical ex-
perience in the work force.
Lacroix will be approach-
ing restauranteurs in the
area and said she an-
ticipated managers of
food service outlets will be
receptive to the idea.

An instructor from Sel-
kirk College, Lorie Lang-
ford, has been brought to
Terrace by the Chamber
of Commerce and employ-
ed by NWCC for the Hos-
pitality Training Program.
‘Lorie is very qualified in
her field’, added Lacroix.

The course offers to its
15 participants formal
food service skills, a study
of mixology as well as
super host training, first
aid survival course and
job entry skills.

Lacroix added that she
sees the program as bene-
ficial for the Terrace area.

1

riage, is valid by common
law. It can also be defined
as a person who has lived
and cohabited with anoth-

- ef person as a spouse and
has been maintained by -
that other person for a-

period of no less than two
years. If a person dies

without a will the Supreme.

Court may order so much
of one’s estate as the court
see fit to be applied for the

"support, maintenance and.

benefit of that person’s
common law spouse. -
INegitimate children:

“An illegitimate . child is

deemed to be the legiti-
mate child of the mother
and, accordingly shares in
the estate of the mother if

_she dies without a will.

If a child has been
under the care, mainten-
ance or protection either
physically or financially of
the father for a period of
no less than.one year im-
mediately preceding the
father’s death, and the
father dies without a will,
the Court may order as

much of the father’s estate ©

as it sees fit to be applied
for the support and the
maintenance and “benefit
of the child. _ 7

It is important to note,
said de Walle, that the
above claims .can. only be
made against one’s estate

@ if that person dies without

a will, If a person dies
with a will, acommon law

spouse and illegitimate.
child cannot claim against

the estate. A separated
spouse may have a claim
under the Wills Variation
Act, added de Walle. -
For a will to be legally
valid, a person must be 19
years of age. If the person
is under 19, that same per-
son must be married or be
a member of the Canadian

Forces. on active service or .
be a mariner or seaman at -

sea in the course of a voy-
age. -

That same person must
be of sound mind, mem-
ory and understanding,
That means, explained de

_ Walle, a person must un-

derstand what they are do-
ing when giving their pro-
perty by will to others.

The usual circumstances
in which a will may be
found invalid for lack of
testamentary capacity are
where the person making
the will suffers from in-
sane delusions or where
the individual is senile or
suffers from alcoholism or
some other disease affec-
ting mental capacity. «

A will may also be
found invalid if any dur-
ess, coersion or undue.in-
fluence was exercised up-
on the testator by some-
one else.

For a will to be legally
binding and valid, it must
be in writing, either type-
written or handwritten.

The will must be signed
at its end by the testator or

‘signed in his name by

some other person in his
presence and by his direc-
tion. .

The testator must make
or acknowledge his signa-
ture in the presence of two

or more witnesses present
‘at the same time.

Each witness must sign
the will in the presence of

‘the testator. The witnesses

must be of legal age and
must not be a beneficiary
or the spouse. of.a benefi-
ciary named in the will. If
a beneficiary or the spouse

of a beneficiary has wit- .

nessed the will, the will is
still. valid. but the gift to
the witness is then void...

’ A will that is not witnes- -

sed and is wholly in the

' handwriting of the testa-

tor is called a holograph
will and is generally not
valid in British Columbia.
A ‘properly drawn will
should contain the follow-
ing provisions:
®@ Identification .of the
testator by full-name, ad-.

dress and occupation, and’ -

a declaration that. the
document is the will of .a
testator.

@ Revocation of. all
previous wills. —

@ Appointment of. an
executor-Trustec,

@ Direction to ‘the ex-

-ecutor to pay all debts, |
funeral and administra-

tion expenses.

@ Gifts of specific pro-
. who specializes in Wills

‘perty and cash legacies. :

@ Gifts of the residue of .

the estate,.
e Appointment. of a

guardian for any ‘infant
children... -0:

@ Funeral instructions. aad

@ Attention clause.
When a will is made, a

notice should be filed with —

the Dept. of Vital Statis-
tics in Victoria: The form
of notice identifi ies the

Women’ S-
Day —
set

TERRACE — on sun-
day, March 8 at the
Library arts room in Ter-
race at 1:30 p.m. an infor-
mal question and answer
forum will be set up in
celebration of Interna-
tional Woman's Day.
Guests will be given an
opportunity to meet
Gabriela Correa, exec-
utive member of the
women’s committee for
human rights in Chile,
. The event is sponsored
by the Northwest Devel-
opment Education Asso-
ciation in Terrace. -

ra " Review- = ~ Wednesday Mareh

_., . Association, - :
Hornby Street, Vancou- a

testator: by: full. name,’ ad: a8

dress, occupation, birth-
date. and place..of -birth
and states the date’of the
will and: where it is
located. .

If a ‘trust company hes

been made an executor in
the will the original may
be kept at the trust com-
pany without charge... ~
_ If the. -will- has’ .been

. drawn by a lawyer, the or-
 iginal will may be kept at
‘the lawyer’s office in
safekeeping without -

charge. The only other se-

cure place for the safe-
keeping of one’s willisan -

individual’s own safety
deposit box...

It is advisable, . said de
Walle, to seek profession-
al assistance in drafting
one’s. will. Trust provi-
sions are very complicat-

- ed, said de Walle, and the
drafting of such: a. docu-*

ment. must be exact...
A lawyer will charge a

_ fee of anywhere from $40
to $75 fora will. ;

An. improperly drafted
will may bring legal costs
to one’s estate of thou-
sands of dollars.

If a person wishes to ob-
tain a referral to a lawyer

and Estates information
may be obtained by calling

_ the. Lawyer Referral .Ser-

vice of the Canadian Bar
202-1148

ver, B.C., 687-3221.
If an individual wishes
to appoint a trust com-
pany as an executor or
alternate executor, one
may obtain the assistance
: Of: a trust officer in the

_planning of a will without

charge. After planning a
will with an individual the

‘ trust officer will refer a

person to a lawyer to draw
up the will for the indi-
vidual.

If a person ‘decides to
draw. up their own will
there are several publica-
tions on the market which
include sample forms ‘of
wills available. 1

De Walle added that a
person should keép in
mind that a properly
drawn will must still be
‘signed and witnessed as
outlined above to be legal-
ly valid and binding.

WORD POWER - marimba:
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each key.

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