Gift Collectibles in Wills

Published on 29 August 2022, 07:22:56 AM

You have an amazing collection of antique tin advertising signs. You’re just not sure what to do with your prized treasures when you die. Add them to your Wills. 

Your Will may be basic, but including collectibles is easy to do. Axess Law’s Wills and estates Ontario lawyers show you how.

Why it Pays to Get an Appraisal

Those distinctive beige Medalta crocks or Italian glass apothecary jars all bring rewarding prices at auction or in private online sales. It’s time you had your collection appraised.

Don’t leave behind potentially valuable collections in a handwritten or holographic Will. They may have only sentimental value to you, but they could be worth more than you know to beneficiaries and collectors. 

Ask auctioneers, collectors’ associations, online dealers or antique appraisers for an estimate of your collection’s fair market value.

What Collectibles Are Worth

You know how much you paid, but do you know how much collectors would? 

Comic Con Treasures

That 1977 Star Wars #1 (35-cent variant) comic book in your attic may be worth over $11,000 in mint condition. Movie memorabilia can be lucrative, as what happened to Prince’s estate demonstrates. Even action dolls sealed in their original packaging, may fetch more than your family might expect.

Hockey Fan Favourites

NHL fans know their game. A 1966 Boston Bruins rookie card of former Oshawa Generals defenseman Bobby Orr (1962-66) commands $5,900. St. Catherines Teepees left winger Bobby Hull (1955-57), from now defunct Pointe Anne, brings in an impressive $12,500 for his 1958 Chicago Black Hawks debut card.

Get this: Heritage Auctions scored $3.75 million in May 2021 for a 1979 O-Pee-Chee rookie card of Brantford’s own, The Great Gretzky. That’s way up in value from 2011, when it sold for $94,000.

That’s not all that’s going for record prices.

Mustangs in Every Shade

Ford Mustang lovers appreciate the value of a classic car collection. A 1969 Boss 429 sold for a whopping $605,000 in 2007. Even the radically redesigned Boss 351 can fetch $65,000. Only 1,800 of the sleek 1971 muscle cars were ever produced.  

Kade Faith lucked in when his father flipped the dust cover off a Lone Star Limited  Mustang in the family garage. The 1967 ‘Bluebonnet Blue’ beauty, one of 175 manufactured in the Lone Star state, shares its vibrant colour with Texas’ official flower.

Who knew?

How Collectibles Are Taxed

Besides being assets that can be kept for memory’s sake or sold as need be, collectibles have potential tax benefits. 

Realizing Gains or Losses

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) considers collectibles capital property. You are “deemed” by CRA to have disposed of capital property immediately before your death. Capital gains or losses from Wills in Ontario are realized at that time. 

Valuations for Income Taxes

CRA uses your collection’s fair market value to calculate the deemed proceeds of disposition. The amount you would have received if you had sold your collection is added to your final tax return as income.

Transferring Capital Property

Since you died during the year, capital cost allowances can’t be claimed (they’re based on a full year’s tax cycle). You can, however, transfer capital property to your spouse to permit them to realize capital gains or losses on their income taxes.

Ask your tax advisor if you should elect to pay taxes for deemed dispositions in advance of your death. 

What You Pay for Estate Taxes

Your entire estate is subject to estate administration taxes except for:

• assets like insurance that have named beneficiaries
• assets you jointly owned with another that automatically become theirs when you die.

Your executor pays no tax on collectibles and other assets valued at $50,000 or less. Otherwise, your estate trustee will deduct the first $50,000 from your entire estate’s fair market value and pay $15 per $1,000 for the balance. 

Getting a Small Estate Certificate

If your estate is worth $150,000 or less, your executor can apply for a small estates certificate. A court clerk will approve a list of assets your estate trustee can disburse, subject to a probate judge’s approval, and issue a certificate of appointment as estate trustee in five days or less.

Why You Need a Lawyer

Axess Law’s lawyers for Wills include collectibles in your estate. Your executor receives clear, written instructions about how to disburse your collections. 

You can leave part or all of your collections to beneficiaries of your choice or direct that they be sold to reduce debts. Proceeds from auctioning your collectibles or selling them to a dealer can be added to your assets for financial bequests. 

Giving beneficiaries cash can be more emotionally gratifying if you think your collection may not be as prized by others as it was by you. Axess Law includes your directions in a basic last Will and testament.

Legal Advice for Capital Property 

Axess Law’s Wills and estates lawyers prepare a basic Will for only $199.99 and up. We can add a power of attorney for personal care or property at the same time for only $249.99 and up in total. 

For more complex estates, we have Will lawyers near you who can give you two Wills, a primary one for probatable assets and secondary Will for corporate assets. You pay just $600 and up for both.

Easily Book Online or Call Toll Free

Book day or evening Wills appointments, 7 days a week, at any of our Axess Law locations near you. Parking is available onsite, with easy transit access. Use our easy online booking form to find dates and times that suit your schedule or call our 1-647-479-0118 lawyer line for preferred times and locations. Toll free calls are accepted at 1-877-402-4277.