u/RebellaEmad

I’ve seen several people post that the DEC charged their cards right away. They’ve had my packet for over a week with no charge. Has anyone had the DEC take a while to charge their card? It would make sense that they are swamped and a bit slower than normal with all the requests, but it’s making me nervous. I did send a card number for a card that’s been used for multiple Canadian charges including the translation service and expenses while on a recent trip to Vancouver so it shouldn’t be an issue with the card.

I sent everything they could have needed including original death certificate, certified translation, notarized explanation of need, documents linking me to my G0, my AOR letter, etc. but of course this process is enough to make anyone paranoid about the process.

Has anyone in this group applied for and actually been issued a DEC birth certificate for an ancestor born in the 1921 time frame? And if so, what did you include in your packet.

Months ago, I came across a post in the CanadianCitizenship group (DEC - New standards for documents…..). The commenter listed all the things you need to submit to the DEC to have your baptism certificate recorded as a birth event and then get your ancestor’s birth certificate issued.
It included a notarized affidavit and several things not listed as required on the DEC site . I asked about those things and the poster said the DEC has a lot of unwritten rules. I suspect this person might be from an immigration firm, since they made it sound impossible for the average person to do it on their own.

I have seen several people apply to the DEC only to be turned down for the creation of a birth record/issuance of a birth certificate because their ancestor was born too early (1800s). But has anyone been successful and had their ancestors birth recorded and gotten a birth certificate? I do have his baptism certificate from BanQ and an official copy of his death certificate. Plus I would basically send my IRCC packet and use the application as the official reason I need a birth certificate.

I’m debating not doing anything until the IRCC asks for a birth certificate or trying to order one now to ensure my ability to meet any IRCC requests. Thoughts from people who have actually completed the process would be welcome.

We are in Texas, for reference.
My father in law’s will stated that on his death a trust would be created and all his assets would go into the trust, including his home. That trust was for the use and benefit of his wife, my husband’s step mom. This is not the best way to establish and fund the trust, but he was insistent that it be done this way. After her death anything remaining in the trust would get split between my husband and his brother.
We are fine with this, she’s wonderful; our generation are all fully established households with no need for his estate. He died in September and the trust is finally being signed into creation.
Apparently their bank accounts were all payable on death to her so the only asset for the trust is the house itself (he no longer drove so he didn’t own a car in his name).

She came to my husband and his brother this week and asked if she could dissolve the trust immediately after it is established and put the house in her name, and then intends to pay them each 1/3 of the value if she sells and update her will to leave them the house if she dies before selling. The brothers agrees to this and signed the legal papers with the lawyer to dissolve the trust.

I have concerns about the potential implications of this. The brothers were under the impression that the original terms of the trust would mean they wouldn’t get much so they aren’t worried about losing any inheritance from this change. But the house is like worth $400k. I’d be frustrated if she never gets around to updating her will and the brothers don’t inherit the house at all (she’s intensely ADHD and not good with paperwork), but that’s a risk they are willing to take. Her current will puts all her assents into a trust for my father in law, with (I believe) her kids inheriting anything left when he dies, so it needs updating anyway.
I assume if she sells it and given them each a 1/3 share of the funds she’s responsible for any gift taxes? Any other things I should be aware of to make sure we are prepared for if/when the funds or the house itself comes our way?

Sorry for the rambling. Everything that happened with dissolving the trust was told to me after it happened and I feel completely caught out about it.

I work with data for a living so I have my own analysis, but I’d love to get the mods and other spreadsheet watchers thoughts on this.
The spreadsheet seems to show a real peak in applications in late March and early April and then a drop off, with the end of April and most of May bing relatively lower (see sandbox weekly tab of the spreadsheet). We’ve discussed this here and there in the weekly optimistic posts.
My question is, can we assume that the group is getting shared more widely now than it was in February and March? Which would mean the drop off in applications might be more dramatic than the spreadsheet even makes it seem? The more popular the group, the higher the percentage of applicants would find there way here.
I’ve seen lots of other sources including FB and at least one news article mention or link directly to this group.
Is there any group analytics available to the mods who could give an idea of the pace of members joining vs the rate applications are being added to the spreadsheet?

My husband and I both work for municipalities. We are both turning 50 in the next year. I will hit my pension (20 years) in 2032. My husband already qualifies. Both our employers’ pension systems are 90%+ funded and are governed by strong funding rules.

I assume for the purpose of calculating FIRE, I can ignore the balance in the account and just look at the annual income? Both our employers also pull Social Security, so we will eventually be able to add that to our income. We also have some other investment accounts, but those don’t matter for my question about how to treat the pension income.

A friend is recommending we do a pull of the entire lump sum when we retire and invest it ourselves, but with COLA and the guaranteed payout for the rest of both our lifetimes, I feel like that’s not the best advice.

We plan to retire in a country with national healthcare (I am a dual citizen), so that will limit our exposure to insurance cost increases.