Life insurance in Burnaby

CWCC works with Burnaby families, strata owners and business owners on life insurance, living benefits, succession planning and capital strategy: entirely online. The firm is registered with Quebec’s AMF under number 602293 and is licensed to place insurance in British Columbia, where Jose Salloum is a licensed life insurance agent with the Insurance Council of British Columbia.

What makes Burnaby different

Burnaby shares British Columbia law with Vancouver, but not the shape of its wealth. The difference lies in the type of property and in how families hold it.

A city of strata property. Metrotown, Brentwood, Lougheed: an unusually high share of the housing stock is strata title. That changes what happens to an estate, for practical rather than legal reasons.

Property value high relative to income. Many households are property-rich and cash-poor. British Columbia probate fees are calculated on value, not on what is available.

Established immigration and multigenerational families. Many households hold property in several names, often with an adult child. That is the most important question on this page.

Two campuses and a technology sector. A university, an institute of technology, film production and technology companies: a great deal of contract work, self-employment and variable pay.

Adding an adult child to title: what actually happens

This is the most widespread and least understood move in British Columbia. It begins with good intentions and often ends in court.

The intention

British Columbia probate fees are calculated on the value of the assets making up the estate. Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship generally passes to the survivor outside the estate. Hence the advice heard everywhere: add an adult child to title and you will avoid those fees.

What the Supreme Court said

In a 2007 decision that has become the leading authority on the point, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a gratuitous transfer to an adult child raises a presumption of resulting trust. In other words, the law presumes the child holds the property in trust for the estate, not that they receive ownership of it.

That presumption can be rebutted by evidence of the parent’s intention at the time of the transfer. Without that evidence, the question is decided after the death, between the heirs, before a court.

The other consequences

These are rarely explained at the moment of signing:

• The child’s creditors. A share on title is the child’s asset. A bankruptcy, a judgment or a seizure can reach the parent’s home.
• The child’s separation. The share can be drawn into a matrimonial claim.
• Immediate tax. Transferring a share may be treated as a disposition, with a capital gain at that moment.
• The principal residence exemption. If the child does not live in the home, their share may not qualify.
• Loss of control. Selling or mortgaging now requires the child’s signature.

We do not give legal or tax advice. This question belongs to a British Columbia lawyer or notary and to your accountant. We raise it because it is often decided without advice, on a relative’s recommendation, and because there is another way to solve the problem it is trying to solve.

The other way

The underlying problem is a shortage of liquidity: the estate must pay fees and tax on a property it does not want to sell. A death benefit paid to a named beneficiary generally arrives within weeks, outside the estate, without adding anyone to title, without exposing the home to a third party’s creditors, and without surrendering control during your lifetime.

That does not make joint tenancy always wrong: between spouses the situation is different and the presumption does not apply in the same way. It means the choice deserves advice, not a habit.

Strata property while the estate is administered

A practical feature that catches families out.

While probate runs its course, the unit keeps costing money: monthly strata fees, property tax, insurance, and sometimes a special levy voted by the strata for major work. These obligations do not pause when the owner dies.

The estate therefore has to find money before it can even reach the assets. In practice it is often the children who advance those sums out of pocket for months. A large special levy, voted at the wrong moment, can force a quick sale on its own.

This is again a question of timing rather than of value, and it is solved by liquidity available quickly.

British Columbia succession law

Probate fees. They are calculated on the value of the assets making up the estate. The proceeds of a life insurance policy paid to a named beneficiary generally do not form part of it.

Varying a will. The Wills, Estates and Succession Act allows a spouse or a child to ask the court to vary a will that does not make adequate provision for them. This is a British Columbia particularity: a clear will is not protected here in the way it is elsewhere in Canada.

That has a direct consequence for a family wishing to treat its children differently: the distribution deserves to be documented and discussed with a lawyer in the province. Insurance proceeds paid outside the estate follow a different logic from the will, which is sometimes useful and sometimes not: it is assessed case by case.

Beneficiary designations. They remain in force exactly as signed. One made before a marriage, a separation or a birth still takes effect. A ten-minute check.

Our seven service areas, seen from Burnaby

Life insurance

Term, permanent, participating whole life. Here the dominant function is supplying liquidity without adding anyone to title.

Living benefits

Critical illness, disability, long-term care. For a self-employed or contract worker, disability is the least covered risk.

Group insurance

For a small-business employer, a recruiting tool. For the member, coverage that ends with the job.

Wealth creation

RRSP, TFSA, FHSA, RESP. In an expensive property market, the FHSA is often the first relevant vehicle.

Investment options

Segregated funds, mutual funds, ETFs, GICs. Education, and segregated fund contracts placed under our insurance licence. For securities held through a dealer: a CIRO-registered representative, which CWCC is not.

Succession planning

Will, executor, designations, probate fees, how title is held, strata property and special levies. Coordinated with your lawyer or notary.

Financial sovereignty

The layer that connects the other six. See below.

The Infinite Financial Sovereignty® strategy in Burnaby

The strategy we call Infinite Financial Sovereignty® rests on the approach widely known as The Infinite Banking Concept®, originated by R. Nelson Nash. It uses a participating whole life insurance policy issued by a Canadian mutual insurer as the place capital accumulates on a tax-deferred basis, accessed through a policy loan rather than by applying to an outside lender.

Three clarifications, non-negotiable: a policy loan is a genuine loan issued by the insurer, it accrues interest, and it reduces the death benefit while outstanding. Dividends are never guaranteed. And this is not a bank: a policy is an insurance contract governed by provincial insurance legislation, it is not a deposit account, and protection comes from Assuris rather than CDIC.

Why here? Because a household with nearly all its net worth locked into a strata unit has no reserve it can mobilise. A cash value reachable through a policy loan is money available without selling, without refinancing, and without adding a name to title.

An honest qualification: in an expensive property market, a recently established owner generally does not have the margin this strategy assumes. The emergency fund, disability and term coverage come first. Chapter 8 of the book exists to help a reader conclude that it is not for them.

The book Infinite Financial Sovereignty®, Simplified sets out the full mechanics.

How this approach compares

An honest comparison does not declare a winner.

This table compares two ways of answering the same problem and claims no general superiority. How title is held is a legal question belonging to a British Columbia lawyer. A participating policy is an insurance contract; comparing it to the market as though it were a fund would be a category error.

Who this is for in Burnaby

• Owners considering adding a child to title. Speak to a lawyer before signing, not after.
• Strata owners. Fees and special levies that run during administration.
• Multigenerational families. Title in several names, unequal contribution, diverging expectations.
• Self-employed and contract workers. No group plan, therefore no safety net.
• Families wishing to divide unequally. A will can be varied in British Columbia.

And who it is not for: a recently established owner at the limit of their borrowing capacity needs an emergency fund, disability coverage and term insurance before any capital strategy.

What a first meeting covers

Thirty minutes, online, no products and no obligation.

How a meeting works

All of our meetings are held online, by video. The firm’s office is in Laval, and no Burnaby client needs to travel there. The time difference is accounted for: we schedule meetings at your hour. Several generations of one family can join.

Check us out independently

No form in this section, nothing to book. Before trusting anyone with money the right instinct is to verify, and nothing here should discourage it.

Frequently asked questions. Burnaby