A new AI estate-planning platform is looking to stake a claim in what founder Alex Mason calls a gap in the Canadian market.Â
The news: Victoria, BC-based Legacy Keeper, an AI-powered platform for financial advisors and families to organize estate planning documents, officially launched today. Its AI agent can process and compile wills, trusts, and insurance documents, then flag risk and suggest ways to minimize tax exposure in the event of a death.Â
The five-person startup is selling monthly plans to financial advisors, but families can also sign up for a free account.
From the source: âThere are so many smart people out there who think theyâre going to live forever, or they have other things going on and they donât get organized,â Mason said in an interview with BetaKit on Friday. He sees Legacy Keeper as a way for families and financial advisors to prompt âhard conversationsâ and save time and trouble in the future.
Following the thread: Mason is surprised there arenât more startups like his in Canada, compared to the US. He argues that Canadaâs universal âdeemed dispositionâ ruleâwhich means that when a person dies, they are considered to have sold their assets, triggering capital gains or losses and associated taxesâoffers a big market of homeowners who would benefit from exploring options for transferring asset ownership, for example.
Final thought: Mason isnât the only Canadian founder paying attention to this underserved space. Amy Baryshnik (also Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchenâs sister) launched a similar product, Estate Kit, last week. Estate Kit is partnering with will and estate planning software startup Willful, which offers document creation. With Canadaâs aging population, itâs likely that digital estate planning tools will become more and more popular.Â
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Ian MacDonald.