Jessie Vaid, the founder of ReadyWhen, has been a Notary Public in BC since the early 2000’s. During this time he has assisted thousands of clients with their estate plans. In doing so, he was often struck by how the current manner of completing an Estate plan is neither user friendly, nor environmentally friendly, as it is very paper heavy. There was clearly an opportunity to improve on the rather cumbersome and somewhat antiquated processes within estate planning.
This led to the creation of ReadyWhen: a secure digital solution designed to make the Estate planning process smarter, faster, and easier. ReadyWhen users are provided ample education on what information they need to store and guided throughout the estate journey in order to protect their families should the inevitable happen. However, a glaring hole was visible right from the onset: accessibility. Even the most carefully constructed estate plan is of no use, if the owner of that plan has not shared it with anyone else. The sad truth is that the majority of Canadians have not shared this vital information (i.e. wills, financial information, or personal documents) with their loved ones. If something does happen, the collection and search for this missing information causes a great deal of stress, during an already stressful time. Recognizing this, Jessie ensured ReadyWhen had a feature to address this very issue – ReadyWhen Teams.
The owner of a ReadyWhen account can add family, friends, executors, or professionals to their ReadyWhen Team so that these individuals can access the right information when it’s needed the most. By adding Team members earlier in the process, they will have access to vital Estate information and educational content to help prepare them, well ahead of time.
It is quite simple to use. Users can simply click “View” in the Team permissions section, within the ReadyWhen dashboard, and start adding people. The ReadyWhen account owner can assign people to specific roles, such as family / friends, legal or financial professionals, or executors. Adding an executor as early as possible is highly recommended, as they are responsible for carrying out the terms of the Will. To learn more about exactly what an executor does, this article provides some great information.
ReadyWhen was built with security first. Users are trusting us with their legacy, and we want to ensure that everything is protected. To achieve that, our security is near military grade, and on par with – if not better than – most bank levels of e-security. This is equally true for how the Team’s functionality has been designed. A user can easily add whomever they choose, and assign the different roles that apply to each of them – (e.g. a lawyer, a notary public, an accountant, a spouse / partner, etc.).. To ensure the owner’s account remains secure, ReadyWhen has designed pre-set security levels. For example:
- Professionals – Can view and enter information based on their role (i.e. Financial professionals can only view the Asset category)
- Family, friend or executor – Can only view information
Additionally, no Team member can delete any files in an owner’s account – that is a privilege reserved, by design, for the owner of the ReadyWhen account.
This feature was built to solve a significant problem, at a difficult time when things need to be easy and simple. Life can be hard and when it hits the hardest, Teams is designed to make it easier for loved ones.
Set it and share it – simple as that.
The content on the ReadyWhen Platform is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice or an opinion of any kind.