A Signature, a Silence, and the Wrong Goodbye

The policy was worth nearly $500,000. He’d named the beneficiary over a decade ago—before the divorce, before the children were grown, before life had unfolded into something else entirely.

He thought his Will would take care of it.
But the money went to his ex-wife.

There was no lawsuit. No loophole. No dramatic fight. Just a quiet, irrevocable payout—because a single form had never been updated.

We don’t always realize the power that lives in the small things:
A line on a form.
A name that no longer fits.
A signature that no one thinks to revisit.

But in estate planning, these small things are everything.

The Hidden Power of a Beneficiary Designation

We like to believe our Will is the final word. But in Canada, certain assets pass outside of your Will entirely—through what’s known as a beneficiary designation.

This includes:

• Life insurance policies

• RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs

• Pension plans and group benefits

• Some non-registered accounts

The Human Side of Paperwork

Estate planning isn’t just about assets. It’s about people. Relationships. History. It’s about how we say goodbye—and who we say it to.

Barack Obama once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
But that arc doesn’t bend on its own. It takes noticing. It takes maintenance. It takes care.

Keeping your beneficiary designations up to date isn’t a task—it’s an act of love. It ensures that your final gesture is aligned with your present truth. That the people you care about are actually the ones cared for.

A Gentle Nudge

So if it’s been a while, take a look. Ask the questions. Pull out the forms. If you’ve divorced, remarried, welcomed a child, or simply changed your mind—make the change official.

Because sometimes, the most powerful estate planning you’ll ever do happens outside the Will.
And sometimes, it’s one piece of paper that decides whether your goodbye feels right—or not.