Most Canadian families are left unprepared when a loved one dies, facing frozen accounts, locked devices, and months of paperwork to piece a life back together. Estate Kit, Canada's first estate readiness platform, launched to close that gap, arriving as a CARP Approved partner for CARP's 250,000+ members and in partnership with will platform Willful.
TORONTO, June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Estate Kit, a Canadian platform built expressly for estate readiness, launched June 2, 2026. It combines a secure digital vault with a physical organizer so families can keep the documents, accounts, contacts, and final wishes their loved ones depend on in one trusted place. Estate Kit arrives as a CARP® Approved partner, making its platform available to CARP's more than 250,000 members, and in partnership with Willful, a leading Canadian online will platform trusted by more than 500,000 Canadians.
Ten years ago, as Amy Baryshnik's father was being wheeled into brain surgery, he grabbed her arm. "If this goes sideways, you're my decision-maker on everything." She was a professional in the world of high finance. He was a retired tax lawyer. Between them, they had every advantage, and in that sterile hallway they were woefully unprepared. He had never shared a single instruction about his health, his assets, or his digital life.
The surgery was successful. But every day, thousands of Canadian families are not as fortunate. They wake up to a "morning after" in which the hoped-for manual is replaced by a multi-year scavenger hunt. Baryshnik and her father had all the sophistication in the world, and it was useless in that hospital hallway. What they had needed was a centralized home for the things that matter, a place where instructions, account locations, and personal wishes live together.
That didn't exist. So, Amy and her team built it here in Canada.
Where There's a Will, There's a Woe…Until Now
Estate readiness is distinct from estate planning. A will tells your family what you want done with your estate. It does not tell them what the estate contains, where to find it, what wishes live beyond the legal documents, or how to navigate the months of paperwork that follow. Even with a will in place, loved ones are too often left piecing together a life from locked accounts and scattered records at the worst possible time. Estate Kit helps Canadians organize the practical details their families will need in a crisis, including documents, accounts, insurance information, passwords, important contacts, and final wishes, so the right people have access to the right information at the right time.
When someone dies less than fully prepared (as most Canadians do), the estate becomes, in effect, a small business with no onboarding and high legal exposure, run by grieving family members who have never administered one before. They confront a predictable sequence of obstacles: the Freeze, as banks lock accounts and cut off the liquidity needed for immediate expenses; the Digital Wall, as two-factor authentication and locked devices put a person's entire digital life out of reach; and the Paper Chase, as families spend months tracking down accounts, policies, and documents they did not know existed. Along the way, a meaningful share of an estate's value is routinely lost to administrative errors, missed tax deadlines, and avoidable legal fees.
The stakes extend well beyond any single family. An estimated $1 trillion is expected to pass between generations in Canada over the next 10 to 20 years, the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in the country's history. Much of it is changing hands as a disorganized tangle rather than an orderly legacy, with the cost measured in lost dollars, lost time, and relationships strained by decisions no one left instructions for.
Amy Baryshnik commented: "We built Estate Kit so Canadians can leave their loved ones with a plan to step in with confidence and honour their wishes, rather than leaving a scavenger hunt. We are excited to partner with CARP®, the leading organization for older adults and Willful, the leading online will provider in Canada."
CARP® Approved Partner for More Than 250,000 Members
Estate Kit launches as a CARP® Approved partner, making its estate readiness platform available to the more than 250,000 members of CARP®, Canada's largest non-partisan advocacy association for older adults, retirees, and Canadians aged 45 and over. The CARP® Approved designation reflects a partnership built on a shared commitment to helping Canadians and their families prepare for the future with confidence.
Through the partnership, CARP® members receive a 20% savings on Estate Kit, plus an additional 15% when purchasing multiple kits, helping more families put a complete estate readiness plan in place. Members also can access Estate Kit's free Estate Readiness Assessment, an educational tool that helps Canadians understand how prepared they truly are and where the gaps lie.
"Being prepared for the unexpected is one of the most important things our members can do for the people they love," said Lori Fitzgerald, Chief Revenue Officer of ZoomerMedia and CARP®. "Estate Kit offers our members a practical and trusted way to get organized. We're proud to welcome them as a CARP® Approved partner."
Willful Partnership for a Complete Path From Will to Readiness
To provide Canadians with a complete estate readiness solution, Estate Kit is launching a partnership with Willful, a leading Canadian online will platform, which has helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians create legally-valid wills and powers of attorney quickly and affordably, in as little as 20 minutes. The two companies address complementary halves of the same problem:
- Estate Kit provides a secure, trusted place to organize, store, and share the vital information, instructions, and documents a family needs to act.
- Willful provides fast, affordable, lawyer-approved online wills and powers of attorney.
Together, we make it easier than ever for Canadians to move from a fragmented patchwork of documents to a single, reliable source of truth for the people they love. Estate Kit customers can add a Willful plan directly at checkout and automatically save 20%, with no codes or extra steps.
"Willful and Estate Kit share a mission to make preparing for the hardest moments simple, affordable, and within reach for every Canadian," said Erin Bury, CEO of Willful. "Estate Kit is exactly what Canadian families have been missing, and it's poised to become an essential part of how Canadians prepare for the future. We're thrilled to partner with them."
Visit www.estatekit.com to learn more about Estate Kit Inc.
About Estate Kit
Estate Kit Inc. is Canada's first estate-readiness platform. It pairs a secure digital vault with a physical organizer to help families gather the documents, accounts, contacts, and wishes their loved ones would otherwise struggle to find, giving them clarity and direction at the moment they need it most. Estate Kit was founded by Amy Baryshnik, who spent nearly two decades in investing and business building before setting out to fix the broken, expensive, and traumatizing way Canadians pass on their estates. Estate Kit is available at www.estatekit.com.
About CARP
CARP® is Canada's largest non-partisan advocacy association for older adults, retirees, and Canadians aged 45 and over, representing more than 250,000 members. CARP® advocates on the issues that matter most to Canadians as they age and connects members with trusted products and services through its CARP® Approved partner program.
CARP® and any CARP® logos are trademarks of CARP® used under license.
About Willful
Willful makes it affordable, convenient, and easy for Canadians to create a legal will and other estate planning documents online by following a clear step-by-step process. Willful's platform was developed in collaboration with leading estate lawyers, and has pricing plans starting at $129. Willful is available in all 10 provinces, with a fully bilingual offering in Quebec. Since launching in 2017, Willful has helped Canadians create over 500,000 documents. To get started, visit willful.co.
Media Contact
Amy Baryshnik
Founder and President, Estate Kit Inc.
Media Contact
Amy Baryshnik, Estate Kit Inc., 1 647-360-3545, [email protected], www.estatekit.com
SOURCE Estate Kit Inc.
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