Estate Planning Lawyers in Ontario: Compare Wills, Powers of Attorney and Update Scope

Compare three Ontario estate-planning firms

For an Ontario household, compare the engagement as one coordinated set of wills, powers of attorney, execution support, original-document custody and future updates. The three firms’ published pages describe different service scopes but do not establish comparable packages or an independent winner.[3][4][5] Obtain an actual retainer for the household’s circumstances.

Mills & Mills LLP

• Legal scope: The Toronto firm describes customized estate planning involving multiple or mirror wills, trusts, special-needs and charitable-giving planning, retirement and business succession, estate-related real estate work and incapacity planning. Related services include powers of attorney, estate administration and estate trustee services.[3]
• Professional coordination: The firm says clients retain one primary lawyer as their needs evolve, while its estate lawyers can draw on other lawyers, accountants and professionals. It also offers multijurisdictional planning through local counsel where required.[3]
• Future-update support: The cited page does not state whether reviews are scheduled or what later revisions cost.[3]

O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers LLP

• Legal scope: The Toronto firm says its practice is devoted entirely to trusts and estates, including planning, administration, disputes, domestic advice, Canada–U.S. work and multijurisdictional documents such as situs wills and powers of attorney. It emphasizes complex estates, business or cottage transfers and family-planning concerns.[4]
• Professional coordination: The cited page does not describe a standard process for working with accountants, financial advisers, insurance professionals or other counsel.[4]
• Future-update support: The cited page does not state whether later reviews are scheduled or how revisions are handled and billed.[4]

Kelly Santini LLP

• Legal scope: The Ottawa firm offers estate planning and administration, wills, trusts and powers of attorney. It says recommendations account for the client’s personal and financial circumstances, objectives and tax burden.[5]
• Professional coordination: Kelly Santini says its business lawyers coordinate with entrepreneurs and business owners on company structure and tax efficiency.[5]
• Future-update support: The firm describes estate planning as ongoing and offers advice about how life events and legal changes may affect an existing plan.[5]

These are differences in stated services, not proof that one firm produces better tax, probate, dispute or administration outcomes.[3][4][5]

Test whether the documents work as one plan

The Ontario government describes an estate as the money, property, personal items and debts left at death. Estate planning addresses what happens to those items and who manages the estate.[2] The planning meeting should therefore examine how the will, estate trustee, ownership arrangements, beneficiary designations and incapacity documents interact.

• Will and estate trustee: Ask how the proposed distributions and trusts will affect the trustee’s work. Ontario guidance identifies age, available time, location and ability to manage property and finances as relevant selection factors.[2] Consult the proposed trustee and explain where the will is stored. Ontario guidance also says a trustee living outside the province might have to post a bond when applying for probate.[2]
• Joint property and accounts: Give the lawyer a list of jointly held real estate, cash accounts and investment accounts. Ontario guidance says real estate held in joint tenancy passes automatically to the surviving owner and, in many cases, the survivor becomes the owner of a joint cash or investment account.[2]
• Beneficiary designations: Have counsel review life-insurance beneficiaries and registered-plan designations alongside the will. Ontario guidance includes these arrangements in the broader estate-planning picture.[2]
• Powers of attorney: Ontario’s official kit separates the Continuing Power of Attorney for Property from the Power of Attorney for Personal Care. The first deals with financial affairs; the second addresses personal-care decisions during incapacity.[1] Specify which documents, appointments, authority limits and execution support the quoted engagement includes.

Where business interests or other complications are involved, establish who will coordinate with the accountant or financial adviser. Ontario guidance recommends checking those professionals’ credentials and relevant experience.[2]

Verify the Ontario lawyer and execution plan

The Law Society of Ontario directory lets the reader check an individual’s licensing and practising status.[6] Obtain the actual responsible lawyer’s name and Law Society number, check that person rather than relying only on a firm’s location, and have counsel confirm the scope of the Ontario engagement. The published firm descriptions are not a certification of the particular lawyer assigned.

Ontario’s 2024/11 official POA kit describes a printed-and-signed procedure with two eligible witnesses present together for signing. It excludes specified witnesses, including the appointed attorney or their spouse/partner, the grantor’s spouse/partner or child, people under guardianship and anyone under 18.[1] Ask counsel to check capacity, eligibility, the exact document and completion of the signing procedure before the meeting.

If remote execution or another method is proposed, require the Ontario lawyer to identify its current legal basis, witness and participation conditions, signature and counterpart procedure, and custody of completed originals. The kit’s ordinary procedure is not proof that sending an electronic draft completes execution. Wills and POAs need their own applicable execution checks; another province’s terminology or a US planning page does not establish Ontario rules.

What to confirm with each firm

The cited pages for Mills & Mills, O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers and Kelly Santini do not state prices, retainers, taxes or disbursements, payment schedules, revision limits, turnaround times, execution formats, delivery or storage terms, cancellation or refund rules, or ongoing-update fees.[3][4][5]

• Price and scope: Which documents and advice are included; how the fee is structured; applicable taxes and disbursements; the deposit or retainer; payment dates; complexity charges; and how out-of-scope work is billed.
• Drafting process: What information is required; how many revisions are included; how changed instructions are charged; the expected delivery date; and who handles each stage.
• Execution support: Record the document-specific method, witness eligibility and arrangements, capacity and identity checks, proposed remote protocol and its legal basis, any required affidavits, completed originals and the lawyer accountable for confirming completion.[1]
• Storage and updates: Who keeps the originals, how copies are delivered, how the estate trustee can locate the will, whether reviews are scheduled and whether amendments are included or billed separately.
• Ending the engagement: Cancellation procedures, refund terms, charges for work already completed and how unfinished documents or client records will be handled.

Do not assume a consultation, contact form or service description means the firm has accepted the engagement. Mills & Mills says an email does not create a lawyer-client relationship, the firm must agree to act under its client-acceptance policies, and confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent in an initial email.[3]

Compare written retainers and identify who is accountable for coordinating the will, powers of attorney, ownership arrangements and beneficiary designations. Choose based on documented scope and service terms rather than general claims about expertise or results.

References

1. Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General: Powers of Attorney kit ON00142E, version 2024/11 (on.ca)
2. Ontario Government: Estate planning and wills (ontario.ca)
3. Toronto Wills & Estate Planning Lawyers – Mills & Mills LLP (millsandmills.ca)
4. Estate Planning Lawyers – O'Sullivan Estate Lawyers | Toronto, ON (osullivanlaw.com)
5. Estate planning lawyers Ottawa | Kelly Santini LLP (kellysantini.com)
6. Law Society of Ontario: Lawyer and Paralegal Directory (lso.ca)