[WSBAPT] International Estate Planning question

[Amy Allison]

Listmates,

I have a client who is a Canadian Citizen.  The only asset she owns in Canada is an investment account with a Canadian investment firm.  I would like to help her avoid probate in Canada (and the 1.4% probate fee) but apparently you cannot name a POD beneficiary on "non-registered" accounts.  You can only name POD beneficiaries on "registered accounts" such as RRSPs and RRIFs.

We looked into naming her children as joint owners with survivorship on the non-registered account but that has some tax implications in Canada and other potential pitfalls.

So my question is: would letters testamentary issued in Washington be sufficient to give authority to the Washington PR over the Canadian investment account?  Or would we have to accomplish an ancillary probate in Canada for the investment account?  If anyone has come across this before, I would be interested to know what your experience has been.

Amy C. Allison
Anderson Hunter Law Firm, P.S.
2707 Colby Ave. #1001
P.O. Box 5397
Everett, WA 98206
(425) 252-5161
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