Life insurance in Whitby

CWCC works with families, commuters and business owners in Whitby and Durham Region 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 Ontario, where Jose Salloum is a licensed life insurance agent with FSRA.

A point about titles

In Ontario the titles “Financial Planner” and “Financial Advisor” are protected under the Financial Professionals Title Protection Act. We do not use them. Jose Salloum is a licensed life insurance agent here: that is what his FSRA licence permits.

What makes Whitby different

Whitby is two towns in one: an older core where families have lived for generations, and newer neighbourhoods filled with households who arrived less than ten years ago.

A commuting population. Many work in Toronto or elsewhere in the region, with mortgages calculated on two incomes and long days.

Families at every stage at once. Young parents in the new subdivisions, retirees in the old streets, and a great many people in between.

A neighbouring energy and industrial sector. With specialised jobs, solid group plans and long careers.

Sustained growth. Which means a great many first houses, first children and first policies, bought quickly and rarely revisited.

Six events that break a plan without warning

This is the central question here, and the thread running through all six is the same: none of these events triggers a notice. Neither the insurer, nor the notary, nor anybody else writes to tell you that your planning has stopped working.

A separation or a divorce

The beneficiary designation on a policy, an RRSP or a RRIF generally does not cancel itself on a breakdown, and a new will does not replace it. It is followed exactly as written.

Every contract and every account has to be taken up again, one by one. It is tedious, it takes an evening, and it is the most worthwhile correction on the whole list.

An incorporation

A policy bought while you were an employee belongs to you personally. Once the business is incorporated, the question of who should own that policy arises differently, and the answer depends on your structure and your tax position.

Do not transfer anything on a hunch: a transfer of ownership between you and your company can carry tax consequences. It is a question for your accountant, and better asked in the year of the incorporation.

The death of a beneficiary

If the person named dies before you and no contingent beneficiary was provided for, the death benefit risks falling into the estate, with the delays that implies.

Naming a contingent beneficiary costs nothing and takes one line. It is the most frequent omission we find on contracts that are otherwise well designed.

A move to another province

Your policy follows you without difficulty. Your will, however, was drafted under the law of one province, and succession rules differ from one province to another, sometimes considerably.

A will valid elsewhere generally stays valid, but it was not drafted with the particularities here in mind. Have it reviewed by a lawyer in your new province.

A child reaching the age of majority

Arrangements made for a minor child are no longer needed in the same way, and the amount of protection your family needs has probably changed as well. It is the moment to check whether you are still paying for a need that no longer exists.

A remarriage

This is the one with the heaviest consequences, because it layers two families and two sets of expectations. In Ontario, a marriage can also affect an earlier will, depending on the rules applying at the time it takes place.

That is a succession law question: have your will reviewed by a lawyer after any marriage, not before.

Why nobody warns you

It is worth understanding why these six events go unnoticed, because it is not carelessness.

An insurer does not know you have divorced, incorporated a business or moved. It knows your billing address and nothing more. A notary does not know what you have done since your last visit. And you, occupied by the event itself, are not thinking about a policy bought twelve years ago.

The consequence is simple: the only detection mechanism is you. One check after each of these six events is enough, and nothing more than that is needed.

What Ontario adds

Estate Administration Tax is calculated on the value of assets passing through the estate. A death benefit paid to a named beneficiary does not pass through it, which is one more reason to confirm the designation is current.

And the point that recurs in all six cases: the designation overrides the will, whatever the date of that will.

What we do for families here

We go through the list of six events with you and check which have happened since your contracts were bought. The conversation takes about ten minutes and it nearly always turns something up.

We then check every designation, contingent beneficiary included, on every policy and every registered account.

We send you to a lawyer for the will after a marriage or a move, and to your accountant before any transfer of ownership of a policy.

The first meeting

Half an hour, by video, at no cost and with nothing to sign. If one of the six events has happened to you recently, say so at the outset: we will go straight there. At the end you will know whether anything needs correcting, and it may well be that the answer is no.

Frequently asked questions