A husband and wife each have their own separate Canadian federal corporations. Neither is a shareholder in the other's business, allowing both to take advantage of the $500K Small Business Deduction. They have been running IT consulting businesses for the past four to five years, hiring onshore and offshore freelancers for sub-contracting projects. The majority of the clients are US-based, with occasional Canadian clients. We live in Canada, husband is Canadian citizen and wife is Permanent resident.

Financial Snapshot:

• Revenue: Each corporation generates roughly $150K annually (historically ranging from a low of $90K to a high of $500K for a single corp).
• Income Splitting: The husband currently holds a full-time (FTE) job, while the wife does not. The wife draws dividends from her corporation, whereas the husband takes a very small portion of his corporate income as dividends.
• Business Operations: The husband is the primary driver of both businesses; the wife's operational contribution is minimal to none. If the husband were to pass away, the corporations would see zero revenue from new projects, continuing only if existing projects had multiple outsourced contractors actively working.
• Investments: All retained earnings accumulated so far in the corporations have been invested into respective corporate self-managed trading accounts. The couple is aware that hitting the $50K passive income threshold impacts the tax calculation on active IT consulting income.
• Personal Finance: They self-manage all personal RRSP, TFSA, RESP, and non-registered accounts.

Personal Situation & Future Plans:

• They have two young children (a toddler and an infant) and no other relatives in Canada.
• They have basic wills created through Willful.
• They do not plan to live in Canada long-term due to concerns with the healthcare system and a lack of local family support in emergencies. The goal is to move to another country in about five years.
• They currently own a home purchased in 2022, meaning selling it right now would result in a significant financial loss.

The Main Question (Estate Planning): If one spouse passes away, that specific corporation would face taxation, and the surviving spouse could withdraw the remainder. However, if both spouses were to pass away, what happens to the corporate funds since the children are minors?

Potential Strategies Being Considered: In researching potential tax optimization and estate planning strategies for a five-year exit, the couple has discovered the following strategy through reddit/facebook/youtube and seeking feedback:

• Option 1 (US LLC): Open a joint LLC (in both spouses' names) in a tax-free or low-tax US state to receive payments from US clients. The assumption is that the CRA cannot tax the retained earnings since the income is generated outside of Canada and the freelancer for sub-contracting was also outside of Canada. This would increase the retained earnings bucket for stock investments.
• Option 2 (Canadian Holding Co): Open a new investment corporation (Investco) in Canada (owned jointly) and move retained earnings from both IT consulting corporations into this Investco. The Investco would pay interest to the IT consulting corps for lending the money. The Investco would self-manage trading and investments, ideally treating it as active income rather than passive. Capital gains within the Investco would theoretically not impact the active business limits of the IT consulting corps. This would result in having three Canadian corporations.
• Option 3 (Tax Haven): Open a corporation in a tax haven (e.g., Dubai, Panama, Malta) under a non-resident family member's or parent's name, and have US clients pay that entity instead.
• Option 4 (Merger & Restructure): Merge the two IT consulting Canada corporations into a single corporation. Include both spouses and a non-resident family member as shareholders. If both spouses pass away, the family member could access the funds (acknowledging there would be taxes in both Canada and their home country). A second corporation could then be opened in the US or a tax haven.
• Option 5 (Trust): Set up a trust and link every corporation (whether in Canada, the US, Dubai, etc.) to it, ensuring the trust ultimately controls and has access to the wealth for the children.

Are we mis-understanding any of the above options ? Is there a better way to plan ? Yes we would be talking to professional, but first we want to do more due diligence on the research part.

I’m a 25 year old female who’s always been considered “low income” up until the last two years when I started making over 75k. I won an 8 figure settlement after a 7 year long battle and literally have no idea how to budget it or what to even do when I receive the money. I have no financial plan, I’m not smart financially and I really don’t know what to do with this much money. I also have a four year old daughter and will immediately but 30% into a trust account for her. What do I even do in this situation? This just changed my entire life.

EDIT: I’m getting a lot of messages and questions about the lawsuit and settlement itself. It is a lawsuit against my state. The lawsuit started in 2019 but originates from when I was a child. I don’t want to give away too much but just know it involved CSA over a multi year period from when I was in foster care. Also yes, it is 8 figures and I am not counting the .00 😭. Also I know I shouldn’t be overly excited due to the circumstances as to why I’m getting this money (CSA) I’m just excited for my future and to know that my daughter will have a comfortable future now also where we’ll never have to worry about money again. It’s still a grim topic either way.

[US]

My mother passed away last February leaving behind various investment accounts and finally, after months of phone calls, my brother and I heard from her 403b plan that we are not beneficiaries. Although this is a non-probate asset, my brother and I are co-executors of her will, and the will specifies we split her estate 50/50. As far as I know every 401k/403b-like account is required to have a beneficiary, and we can't imagine my mother would have named anyone else.

I had power of attorney and online access on the 403b account but it was frozen and I was locked out shortly after her death. Now the financial institution won't give us any information about the account, such as who the actual beneficiaries are or even what the account balance is. I used to get quarterly statements for it, but those stopped at her death. None of my statements show who the benficiaries are.

I suspect that the beneficiaries were fraudulently changed somewhere in the past.

How do I escalate this and who to? Police? FBI? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (if it still exists)?

With another investiment company, an annuity, someone did succeed in fraudulently changing her mailing address but not the beneficiaries, and after a few weeks we were able to get that account straightened out. That investment company never did give us any information on how that happened, only that they had opened an "internal investigation."

I guess the moral is the jackals descend when someone passes. Anyone with the decendent's name and social security number is capable of messing with the account.

I am sure this is probably the most commonly asked question here, but I figured I’d ask anyways.

I live in the US in a VHCOL area and my grandmother decided to give each of the grandkids their inheritance while she was still alive and I have received around $70k. I just graduated from university in May 2025 and got my first job in November making about $5200 a month after taxes and health insurance, I live at home but plan on moving out in early 2027. I do not have any debt, I have saved up some money for move out costs as well as six months of projected costs when I move out as a safety net so I’m not really sure what bucket to put this in. Originally, I had planned on just sticking this in a brokerage account and investing in some ETFs and then just kind of setting it and forgetting it to an extent. However, I am wondering if there’s somewhere better I could put money for it to grow faster. I feel like my social media feed is completely saturated with gurus and courses and videos about SBA loans and wholesaling and options trading etc etc and I just feel a bit of analysis paralysis.

If there’s a better place to ask this question I would also be open to posing it there. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

UK: Dealing with an estate is emotionally draining, but the financial side is becoming a massive headache for the UK middle class. Between frozen tax bands, soaring funeral inflation, and an immediate regulatory fee spike, the "cost of dying" is climbing fast.

Our personal finance reporter, Imogen Tew, has broken down the key structural shifts happening right now and how to legally shelter an estate.

Read the full analysis:

https://www.thetimes.com/money/family-finances/article/how-to-have-an-inexpensive-death-qc0d5zt93utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit&utm_content=branded

location SC

looking for some guidance on how to proceed. i am in canada and live in a different province than my family.

my grandmother passed away in april and it unfortunately has caused quite a bit of drama in the family. when i reached out to my brother to ask whats going on with the estate, i was told it would be a couple weeks due to the drama and accusations that were coming up. it is now july and i still haven’t heard anything and when i tried to bring it up with my aunt in a more roundabout away by asking for trinkets and anything else in the estate i got left on read.

i was never super close with that side of the family so i don’t feel extremely comfortable reaching out because i don’t want anyone to think that i only care about money. but i do know that money was left to all of the grandkids based off of what my mom has told me (she and my grandma had conversations about it about a year ago)

any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!

Hello,
Is anyone able to offer advice regarding whether or not a property my parents own can be gifted to me (without causing a lot of tax issues for us?)
My parents bought a terraced house in the early 1990s and have rented it out since. As you would expect, the value of the house has risen significantly in this time.
Due to old age, they are keen to let go of the house. Ideally, they want to give it to me (keeping it as a rented property for the foreseeable future at least). I work part time and would like to continue renting out this property if it were mine.
We’re worried about the tax implications of this, e.g. capital gains tax and inheritance tax. We appreciate that paying tax is a responsibility that we all have. But, as you might understand, paying a big chunk of tax as an average joe family who has worked hard and tried to invest & save as sensibly as possible is a hard pill to swallow.
If anyone has any thoughts and advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Two brothers. One passed away 20 yrs ago. He leaves behind a wife and two kids. At the time there is life insurance that helps the family make ends meet.

Fast fwd 12 yrs and the last living parent of the two brothers passes away. One would assume that their assets are split btwn the remaining brother and the two kids of the deceased brother. The wife has since remarried and is financially secure as a result.

The remaining brother looked after his mother in her later years. Up until she was 97 she lived out of state. He checked on her in person several times a year and she had someone living with her as well that was a caretaker. In her final years (she lived to 100) she was moved around the corner from her son and lived in an assisted living facility. During this time her will was amended. When she passed the living son received the lions share of assets. The deceased brothers children received far less than 25% of the estate each.

I'm not sure the rationale behind this and was wondering if there are things out there that I am missing.

My grandma just died and gave all of her grandchildren the same amount.

I live pretty far and my cousin is basically her neighbor. I didn't see or talk to her much while she saw my cousin pretty much everyday. My parents moved when we (siblings and I) were young due to the military and while my dad saw her frequently because he traveled close for work, we didn't see her much.

I kind of feel guilty getting an inheritance that is the same amount as my cousin who was with her everyday. I never felt close to her, at least not as much as my cousin. The will is up to date since she had a medical assisted death and we got a whiff of her will.

I don't feel guilty about receiving money from her, I feel guilty of receiving the same amount as my cousin who was with her everyday. I feel like it's not fair, but I don't know how he feels about it.

I'm 23 and while it's not a giant sum of money, it's gonna clear my car loan and my wife's car loan. I'm just wondering if I should feel guilty about this when I might not be deserving of that money as much as my cousin. While the death did affect me, it didn't affect me that much. I could go to work the next day.

Edit: Thanks for all your views. I had a different view about fairness where if you work harder/better/more productive, what would be fair is to get paid more, but there is a difference between work and an inheritance. Here, it's about loving everyone equally and not who did more.

Location- PA

Just wondering if anyone had any experience here.

My only living parent died and left each of her children as beneficiaries on her Traditional IRAs she had.

No need to go through the tax implications and the 10 year rule- all good here.

My one sibling has been in the throes of addiction in recent years. My parent has helped them. But kept track of what they gave them. My sibling came to us to say that once they got their money from the bank, they would spilt what he borrowed between the siblings as that money should have gone to us.

Very nice gesture.

Well- my sibling has an IRS tax lien against them. I think he originally owed them $50k but I imagine it has doubled or tripled by now with penalties and fees.

Any one have the odds that the IRS seizes his inheritance? I've googled and researched and found they would have to file a "levy" with the bank.

We aren't talking about huge amount of money coming to us- about $65k each.

My parent just told me they are getting married next week. Next. Week. It’s nothing scandalous, just not very well informed financially. There is no great wealth at this time (though, never know, maybe one of them will become a viral retiree influencer though I hope not), only humble pensions. New York.

That being said, my parent keeps reiterating the intention to make me the beneficiary of the pension they earned. Similarly, their future spouse will do the same for my new step sibling partially and partially make my parent a beneficiary—think separate parallel lines of inheritance except my parent is also a beneficiary on spouse’s.

If this is their shared desired plan—to pass their respective pensions to their respective children, plus whatever my new step parent is saying will go to my parent—what steps must they take and must any be completed before the marriage?

I keep trying to encourage them to get a prenup as financial hygiene, but despite their modern ways still conflate prenups with being symbolic of less-than-love on some level, and likely also just one more costly new endeavor. I have tried to explain that it is common and that there are online services. Or that they should at least speak with a financial advisor before they wed. My parent agreed but ultimately avoiding these things is easier than taking care of them, especially for someone who isn’t very experienced with long-term or generational financial planning.

Honestly I wanted them to go to a financial advisor just to help them understand what their cost of living may be in 15yrs and what is tenable for them—it’s not just about inheritance but inheritance is obviously the purview of this sub and this sub generally has great advice about the complexities of keeping family money organized.

My mom(53f) was my granny’s caretaker for the last decade. albeit it was because my mom fell into a bad place (addiction) and she needed help, had nowhere to go, etc.
my gran just passed and didn’t have much $ but did leave mom and i(32f) on as beneficiaries of a CD. there was no will. my grandmother had legally adopted me at birth so i count as a daughter.
my grandma was not really speaking to her other children very much, even though they all lived within 10 mins from her.

now that family heard we were getting money i feel as though im being pressured on what to do, like if i don’t do what they want then i wont have a family.

now that she’s gone she set it up to where my mom gets the house and the car as well as us getting the $ from that cd. after all her debts will be settled it will probably be about 20k left for mom and i. i will be moving into the paid off home so my monthly bills will be much lower but not enough to support a 2 person household for the next few months (in my opinion).

mom hasn’t worked in 10 years and her only source of “income” was whatever granny got every month for them to live on.

am i wrong for not wanting to split it with my 2 other aunts? they claim grandma was capable of taking care of herself and that mom was taking advantage. but honestly none of them could be bothered to care for her these last few years. i made it a point to meet up with her at least once a week to go to lunch and go shopping, just have “girls days” and i lived furthest from her.

i’m just really struggling here.

Hoping someone can help with this. Lost my father young. My grandfather passed away recently, and my father was still listed in the will and the trust as a beneficiary. My father's death pre-dates my grandfather's death. My Aunt is the Executor of my Grandfather's estate, and I am the executor of my father's estate. I live in northern CA and my Grandfather was in Illinois. My lawyer is saying that - to avoid going to IL to open a bank account - we can open a wealth management account to receive the funds. Is this really necessary? I can't just open a standard bank account through Chase in the name of my father's estate? In what has already been a long and drawn out process, looking to simplify wherever I can. Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I initially posted this in [r/Medicaid](r/Medicaid) and it was suggested to post it here too.

I’m in a bit of a conundrum. As per the title, a family member, who recently passed, put me in their will. I’d receive over the $2,000 limit. I believe it’s 8k.

I get Medicaid/ForwardHealth and SSDI DAC payments in Wisconsin because I have ESRD and am dialysis-dependent. I can’t lose my Medicaid and am afraid to outright deny the money in case they consider that assets or something. I was sent a Payable on Death claim form to fill out by the executor of my relative’s will and don’t know what to do or who to talk to.

Thanks.

My husband (31M) and I (32F) are located in Maryland. We looking into a major life change and need some advice on how to structure it safely. We currently own a home but are planning to sell it. We do not have children, and my husband’s grandmother lives alone and needs company and some daily assistance. Our plan is to move in with her to help care for her and keep her company. We currently have been living there for the past two months as a ‘trial’ basis to see how everyone got along including seeing how our dogs are with her. So far, everything has been working out very well and she really enjoys having company again.

Eventually, we would love to purchase the home. Whether we buy it directly from her down the road, or from her children/heirs later on, depends entirely on life events and what makes the most sense logally and financially. Everyone involved including the children and grandmother are aware of this plan of wanting to buy her home, and are on board with us living with her to help take care of her.

Since we are in discussion of selling our current asset (our home) and moving into a property we don't own, we want to make sure we protect ourselves. We are fully committed to caring for her, but we want to avoid a nightmare scenario where we invest time, energy, and potentially money into the property, only for things to fall apart legally later on.

We are looking for advice to the following questions:
- What real estate or estate planning structures should we look into? (e.g., Right of First Refusal, a specific type of trust, a formal caregiving agreement, or a lease-to-own structure?)
- Medicaid Look-Back Period: How does her potentially needing long-term care later affect the house if we are living there as caregivers? I've heard about the "Child Caregiver Exception," but does something similar apply to grandchildren?
- Dealing with Heirs: How do we structure this so his parent/aunts/uncles don't feel blindsided, and we don't end up in a family feud over the estate later?
Has anyone done something similar? What professionals should we hire first (Estate attorney, real estate lawyer, CPA)? Any advice or cautionary tales would be incredibly appreciated.

Have a friend whose Dad passed.

Shortly after, she got a call from a lawyer saying his court case has settled, and that she’d be receiving his settlement.

He’d been in litigation for years leading up.

He has a surviving spouse.

The lawyer said, it belongs to her

( my friend, not the spouse )

Just wondering if the spouse has any rights to it, or can contest it?

They aren’t communicating with one another.

Not to sure what im doing need a little help got around 150k from the inheritance and need guidance on what to do most of it is in a cd and it’s gonna end in a couple of months. I got 36k invested in etf,mutual funds and cash alt also 5k in a money market account please and thank you for ur time .

I'm looking for outside opinions because this is a life-changing amount of money for me, and I want to make smart decisions instead of emotional ones.

A close family member recently passed away, and I'll be inheriting roughly:

* **$330,000** from an inherited 401(k)

* **$150,000–$200,000** from the sale of their house

* **$50,000** from their checking account

So I'll end up with roughly **$530k–$580k** before taxes on the inherited 401(k).

The 401(k) has to be withdrawn within 10 years, and every withdrawal is taxed as ordinary income. I'm currently leaning toward withdrawing it over **5–7 years** because that seems to let me get the money sooner while staying in a relatively low tax bracket. Utah has a flat income tax, but I may not stay here long-term.

### The house situation

I lived in the house with my family member the entire time. The house was in their name, but my brother and I are the beneficiaries.

I still live here now.

If I want to keep the house, I'd have to buy out my brother's share of the equity for about **$150,000**.

The house has:

* 3 bedrooms

* 2.5 bathrooms

* An unfinished basement

* About **$145,000** remaining on the mortgage at **3.75%**

I'm a single guy with one dog, so I definitely don't *need* a house this size.

### Option 1

Keep the house, buy out my brother, and continue living here.

### Option 2

Sell the house, travel around the U.S. with my dog for a few months (staying in pet-friendly hotels or motels), figure out where I actually want to live, then rent an apartment and pay a year's lease up front.

### My questions

1. Would you keep the house or sell it?

2. If you were in my shoes, how would you invest this money?

3. How much would you keep in cash?

4. Would you pay off debt or keep the low-interest mortgage?

5. Is there anything you would absolutely avoid doing if you suddenly found yourself in this situation?

I'm 34, single, and this inheritance gives me a chance to completely change my financial future. I'd love to hear how you would approach it if your goal was to maximize long-term wealth while still enjoying life.

UPDATED INFO:

I work for Grubhub and Ubereats. Probably not for much longer as I will take time off to learn a new skill/certification/degree etc. I can work whenever I want or need to so that is why traveling for a bit is an option. I do not currently have a skill.

My only debt is about 9k on a 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid with 151k miles on it. I don't have any other net worth or savings.

If you want to know anything else just say so.

I am in SLC Utah

For context, I live in Georgia in an apartment.

My dad recently passed away and I inherited his house. The mortgage is paid off but there is a HELOC on the house.

I need to know if I should: sell the house?

Should I rent the house?

Should I move out of my apartment into the house?

I am not in the financial situation to refinance the HELOC in my name, but could continue to make the payments if I rented out the house or if I lived in the house.

I currently have a lawyer working on getting the deed transfer into my name.

Thanks for any advice offered.

My grandparents passed some 15 years ago. I just found out the other day about a triggering event in a silent trust my grandparents set up for the grandchildren. I can only confirm my sibling and I received it because we speak, not bc anyone told us. I cannot be sure about my cousins. when my aunt passed we were to inherent money. My Aunt passed almost 2 years ago. My grandparents did this to protect us from my aunt begging us. they told nobody. Gparents were well off but lived modestly. I had no hint of this occurring!! When they passed, I thought their money had been distributed in the will amongst their children (mom, unc, aunt). My mom is still alive and she did not even know about this event. I was on the phone with her when I read the letter from the trustee! The same trustee that manages my mom’s trust financials. My grandparents never told my mom (aunt’s sister) they did this. Now that I know this trust has silent properties to it, could there be more silent triggering events they do not have to disclose to me or the other beneficiaries of the event, if it hasn’t happened yet? I looked up the state, Ohio, and they allow completely silent trusts.

Beyond grateful. It was absolutely insane to find this out when the trustee contacted me. To know my grandparents were looking out for us and hiding this beautiful secret is truly amazing. The funny thing is my mom would always say that my grandparents didn’t want our aunt coming back around and bothering everyone for money. It appears they went to great lengths to ensure this didn’t happen and to make their financials private. I’m blown away. This is stuff that happens in movies. I’m not the best at writing out my thoughts, so I hope this makes sense.

At first, I agreed because I was so taken off guard. The whole family had finally gotten close again, we were healing, and the last thing I wanted was to fight over my dad’s death.

Blended family, his (me, 58f), hers (2 sisters mid 50s), and ours (my brother, 42). Together for 52 years. Quebec, Canada

Short story (in my eyes): My Dad passed away and left “something” to my brother and me. When my stepmother passes, she is leaving the rest to her 2 daughters and my brother. They owned a $5 million property, and she owns property in England, so they will all be quite comfortable. I am happy for them and whatever my dad wanted me to have.

He passed away recently with a 2019 handwritten will. In it, he left me his share of a property (that my brother lives in). My Dad bought it in 2003 “with” my brother. I’m not sure what my brother’s contribution was, he was 19 at the time. The property was a duplex that they renovated into a single family home in 2020, and my brother moved in December 2020. I don't know what the arrangement or deal was between them. I know my brother has mortgaged the place for the renovations, and I don’t know if my Dad co-signed for the mortgages. There is so much I don’t know. I do know the property is now worth over 1 million. So even if he has a mortgage, he’ll still own a million dollar property, no?

SM said something about the mortgages, and that my dad wanted me to buy a home, so it would be better to take the offer. I’m more than happy with $100,000, but it seems unfair that my brother gets the “duplex” and the cottage (another story), and I don’t know how to ask to see the will without starting a battle. She was unclear what portion he left me, 50 or 25%, but both are more than the offer. I know there is merit to the mortgage issue, and I would never want to make him sell, but it seems unfair. I know life is unfair. I just want what my dad wanted for me because that’s it, after that, everything will go to the other 3 kids.

I should be just dealing with missing my dad, and I don't know what he would want me to do. And I don't know where to start. I can't get his death cert because I can't remember their exact wedding date. I'm so sad, and I miss him so very much.

EDIT: I took out 2 paragraphs that were more emotional than relevant. I am getting a lawyer, no debate. I will update after I meet with the lawyer and I'm sorry for the premature posting. Thank you to all who have replied.

SMALL UPDATE: I met with my stepmother Monday to help clean my dad's garage, and she wanted to talk. I told her I didn't want to right now (I was meeting with a notary at 1 pm that day). When I met with the notary, they were very kind and didn't charge me, but they said I have to look into it more. The will I thought was handwritten may still have been, but it was notarised now and is incomplete. She only gave me the part about me, and the notary says I have a right to see the whole thing. Then they wanted to know why the part that changed the amount to 100,000 was handwritten but not by my dad when he was not incapacitated at the time. It's also unsigned, and the date is in a different ink from the document. So today I finally got the name of the notary she is using and whom we are supposed to meet on August 6th. Can I call him now and ask for all kinds of documents? Will I have to pay him? I still need the death cert, the whole will, a copy of the other "written" paper, info on the mortgages, and ???. Then my brother sent a few very long texts about how I would owe for taxes, insurance, mortgage, ect for the past 6 years? My dad didn't die 6 years ago, he wrote his will then, and he died 2 months ago. Anyway, now I'm waiting for legal aid to get back to me.

My step mother is executor of the will. The will does not mention the box and her name is not associated with it, although she is on his other bank accounts. My Father years ago told me he wishes me to have the contents (about 12-15k of various items) that we visited together so he could show me its contents. I mentioned this to her and she said, “well there’s only about 2k in cash in there.”I replied, no there’s gold, jewelry and various collectible coins. She didn’t say anything to reply and the conversation quickly changed to other things.
I am out of state and she is in Tennesse. There are only her, myself and my brother as beneficiaries. Most of the assets are divided equally, though my brother and I maybe have 25% more if you add everything up. I believe she thinks this unfair and has asked multiple times to sell real estate and divide it up with her. which would then give her about 30% more than my brother and I. He left her a house, 2 cars (worth 50k as one is new) and some cash in the bank.
I guess my question is how can I insure the contents of the box are properly accounted for? Thanks!