Life insurance in Blainville

CWCC works with young families, commuters and business owners in Blainville and the Basses-Laurentides on life insurance, living benefits, succession planning and capital strategy: entirely online. The firm is registered with the Autorité des marchés financiers under number 602293, where Jose Salloum practises as a Financial Security Advisor.

What makes Blainville different

Blainville grew around a fairly specific family choice: people who left the island for space and schools, accepting the drive that comes with it.

Young households who own their homes. Houses bought in the last decade, mortgages calculated on two incomes, and children of school age.

A commuting population. Many work in Laval or Montreal, with days lengthened by the journey.

A marked focus on the children’s education. It is often the very reason for the move, and it shows in the financial priorities of families here.

A fabric of small businesses and self-employed people. Retail, construction, professional services, with no group plan behind them.

The education savings plan when the parent who funds it dies

This is the central question here, and it is also one of the few that is settled completely in a single visit to the notary, provided you thought of it.

The subscriber, not the beneficiary

A registered education savings plan involves two distinct roles that parents regularly run together. The child is the beneficiary: they will receive the money at the time of their studies. The parent is the subscriber: they open the plan, contribute to it, and direct its decisions.

Those are entirely different things, and it is the subscriber role that creates the problem at death.

What stops

When the subscriber dies, contributions stop. That is not a peculiar rule of the plan: it is simply that the person who was making them is no longer there.

And since government grants are calculated on contributions made, the grants stop at the same moment the contributions do. The plan still exists and the money already accumulated remains, but the accumulation stops dead.

Quebec adds a provincial incentive that follows the same logic. The rates, the ceilings and the conditions of the federal and provincial programmes change and belong to the bodies concerned and to your plan promoter; we do not publish them here.

The clause that solves half the problem

Your will can appoint a successor subscriber, meaning the person who will take over the role and be able to continue administering the plan.

Without that appointment, the plan is dealt with along with the rest of the estate, with the delays and the uncertainty that implies, at a moment when the family has other things on its mind. It is a clause to add at the notary’s office, and it costs nothing extra if you think of it while the will is being drafted.

What life insurance does here

Appointing a successor subscriber settles the question of who decides. It does not settle the question of with what money: the surviving spouse, who has lost an income, is rarely in a position to keep contributing at the same rate.

A death benefit lets that expense be covered among the others. We will not pretend it is the main reason to be insured: replacing the income and covering the mortgage come first. The children’s education is part of the calculation, not its starting point.

The minor child and the money

One precaution applies to every young family here, regardless of the savings plan.

A minor child generally cannot receive and administer a death benefit directly. Without a structure set out in the will, the administration of substantial sums intended for a minor is governed by law and can bring in a third party, which adds delay and formalities.

Your will should also appoint a guardian. The savings plan, the guardian and the way the money will be administered are all settled in the same meeting.

The Quebec framework

Quebec follows the Civil Code: the liquidator replaces the executor, a notarial will does not require probate while a holograph will does, and a common-law partner does not inherit without a will.

That last point bears repeating in a town where many couples with children are not married: without a will, a common-law partner inherits nothing, however long the relationship has lasted and even where the house was paid for by both.

What we do for families here

We start with the order of priorities, and it does not change: the adults’ income first, the mortgage second, education after that. A family insuring the education before the income has reversed something.

We then check three things that cost nothing to correct: whether a will exists, whether a successor subscriber has been appointed, and what the beneficiary designations on your policies and accounts currently say.

We send you to your notary for the will and the guardianship, and to your accountant for questions about grants and withdrawals.

The first meeting

Half an hour, by video, at no cost and with nothing to sign. Both parents can attend from two different places, which solves the scheduling problem. At the end you will know whether this belongs in your situation, and if the answer is no, you will hear it during the meeting.

Frequently asked questions