The Beneficiary Check

Canadian estate self-check · Free

Is your money set to go where you think?

A 2-minute check of the beneficiary designations that quietly override your will. The people you name on your TFSA, RRSP, RRIF and life insurance usually inherit those accounts no matter what your will says — and most Canadians have never checked.

You just wrote a will Divorced or remarried New baby in the family
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Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored on a server.

Sample result
Your check found
3 things worth confirming

TFSA names a spouse as "beneficiary"

Successor holder is usually the stronger choice for a spouse.

High

Designations don't match your will

The designation generally wins over the will.

High

No will on file

Intestacy rules would decide the rest.

Medium
Full explanation + exactly what to confirm in the paid report

The free check

Ten quick questions about how your accounts are set up

Answer what you know — "not sure" is a valid answer and often the most useful one. Nothing here asks for account numbers, balances, or passwords.

Your beneficiary self-check

Everything runs on your device. We use your answers only to compute your flags right here in the browser.

Estate, probate and beneficiary rules differ by province — Quebec especially.

A signed, valid will — not one you're planning to write.

Spousal rules (like the RRSP rollover and TFSA successor holder) only apply to a married or common-law spouse.

Tax-Free Savings Account.

How is it set up for whoever inherits it?

Outside Quebec, a spouse can be named "successor holder" (they take over the whole TFSA, tax shelter intact) or just "beneficiary" (they get the cash, but the shelter ends).

Registered Retirement Savings Plan or Registered Retirement Income Fund.

Who is the named beneficiary?

The person or entity on file with your bank or brokerage — which may not be what your will says.

Minor children — under the age of majority in your province.

Is any minor named directly as a beneficiary on a registered account or insurance policy?

Directly = the child's own name is on the designation (not a trust, and not an adult trustee "for" the child).

Any policy — term, whole, or group coverage through work.

Who is the named beneficiary on the policy?

If more than one policy, answer for the one you're least sure about.

A divorce, remarriage, a death, or a new child — anything that could change who should inherit.

For example, an ex-partner who might still be listed on an old account or policy somewhere.

Where designations and a will disagree, the designation usually wins — so this is the big one.

Please answer the highlighted questions above so we can run your check.

Computed on your device. Your answers are never sent anywhere until you choose to unlock the full report.

How it works

A structured check, not a guess

1

Answer ten plain questions

No account numbers, no balances, no passwords — just how each account is set up and who's named. "Not sure" is a real, useful answer.

2

See your flags instantly

Your device runs each answer through a fixed set of Canadian estate rules and shows you every issue it finds, ranked high to low. Free.

3

Unlock the full report

For $24 you get every flag explained in plain English, the exact steps to confirm and fix each one, a questions-to-ask checklist, and a print-ready PDF.

Why this matters

The designation usually beats the will

Most people assume their will controls everything. It doesn't. Registered accounts and insurance policies pass by their named beneficiary — and in most provinces that designation overrides whatever the will says. That single gap is how money quietly ends up with an ex-partner, gets stuck for a minor child, or hands the tax bill to the wrong people.

Built on the rules that actually apply in Canada. The checks cover TFSA successor-holder vs beneficiary, the RRSP/RRIF spousal rollover, minors named directly, stale post-divorce designations, and will-vs-designation conflicts — the mistakes that come up again and again.

  • Runs 100% in your browser — your answers never leave your device.
  • No account, no login, nothing to upload or trust us with.
  • Never asks for account numbers, balances, or passwords.
  • Every flag ends by telling you to confirm it with your institution or advisor.

Questions

Common questions

Is this financial, legal, or tax advice?

No. The Beneficiary Check is an educational tool. It flags general patterns that commonly cause problems and tells you what to confirm — it never tells you what you personally should do, and it doesn't know your full situation. Every flag ends the same way: confirm it with your financial institution, lawyer, or accountant. Treat it as a prompt for the right conversations, not a decision.

How is my information handled?

The whole check runs in your browser. Your answers are used only to compute your flags on your own device and are never uploaded to us. If you choose to unlock the full report, a small, coded summary of your answers is passed to the payment step so your personalised report can be rebuilt on the results page — it contains no names, account numbers, or balances (we never ask for those).

Is it built for Canada?

Yes. The rules it checks are Canadian — TFSA successor holder vs beneficiary, the RRSP/RRIF spousal rollover and terminal-year tax, probate exposure, minor-beneficiary limits, and the general principle that designations override the will. Quebec works differently for registered-account designations, and the check calls that out.

What's free and what costs money?

Running the check and seeing every flag it found — the titles, how many there are, and how many are high-priority — is free. For $24 (one time) you unlock the full report: each flag explained in plain English, the exact steps to confirm and fix it, a checklist of questions to ask your bank, advisor, and lawyer, and a print-ready PDF you can keep or share.

Will it tell me exactly how much I'll owe or what to do?

No — and that's deliberate. It won't put a dollar figure on your estate or tell you which product to buy. It surfaces structural issues (for example, "a non-spouse is named on your RRSP, which can trigger a large terminal-year tax bill") and points you to confirm the specifics with a professional who can see your whole picture.

What if all my answers were "not sure"?

That's still valuable — it usually means it's time to pull a beneficiary summary from each institution and actually look. The report gives you a clean checklist to do exactly that, so "not sure" becomes "confirmed."

Two minutes now can save your family months later.

See which of your beneficiary designations are set to send money somewhere you didn't intend.

Run the free check →

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