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Empowering executors and trustees, along with enabling their professional advisors, to honour the intentions of those that asked them to take on this role, optimize outcomes for the beneficiaries, and enhance the family legacy.
Leveraging innovative, proven technology, to transform how estates and trusts can be administered more efficiently and collaboratively.
Applying best practices from legal project management (LPM), to estates and trusts, to assist all involved in managing the complex process.
Layering in business pragmatism, to ensure it is managed cost-effectively and with a view to providing accountability for results.
Being proactive with potentially contentious matters, to get ahead of disputes and avoid wasteful, lengthy legal battles.
Tailoring advisory services to the specific requirements and family circumstances of each matter, to provide truly personalized services.
I founded Collective Agreement after going through the painful process of estate administration for a family member that lovingly named me as their executor. It was an honour to be asked, but it left me questioning why it was so onerous, expensive and took so long (and too many people) to get everything processed accurately.
My results-oriented business perspective, honed over years of leadership roles in private companies, and a bias for accountability, derived from my PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) professional experience, had me asking how I could've achieved better outcomes for all the beneficiaries and executors.
From my work with innovative startups over the past decade, I knew there the entire process could be handled much more effectively with purpose-built technology.
It led me to source the best platforms for estates and trusts and starting my consulting practice to provide clients and their advisors a more collaborative, cost-efficient approach to estate and trust administration.
With experience in commercial disputes and litigation along with an array of business-related issues (refer to my Practice Areas noted below), I'm typically referred to clients by legal, financial and tax advisors for more complex situations and estates/trusts prone to disputes.
FEE STRUCTURE
Collective Agreement operates with low overheads, working virtually and collaboratively, enabled by using the most advanced, secure technology platforms in the estates and trusts space. Services are provided by its principal advisor Bruce Young, CPA, CA, CEA; as required, contacted support services are engaged.
Fees are project-based, determined by the complexity and the scope of work, not as a percentage of the value of an estate/trust and aligned with client requirements (including payment, when fees need to be funded by the estate).
Collective Agreement's core value proposition is matching the most cost-effective resource to each element of work throughout the estate/trust administration process. For lawyers and other trusted advisors, this agile, lean fee structure generates significant cost savings for your clients.
Practice Areas & Experience
Estate & Trust Administration (Ontario)
Fiduciary Accounting for estates and trusts, including court reporting
Estate Strategy, integrating and aligning multiple planning structures
Estate/Trust Monitor for contentious situations
Financial Neutral for Collaborative Law for Estates
[This is an emerging practice area for resolving estates-related disputes - learn more about it on my webpage here on Collaborative Law for Estates]
Experience Includes:
Ontario probate filings and administration of Canadian estates
Commercial litigation, with extensive experience in Ontario
and Delaware (inclusive of e-discovery and Sedona principles)Small-to-Midsize Business (SMBs), including startups and family businesses (along with intergenerational transfers)
Cross-border income tax issues
Intellectual Property (IP)
Kindly note I do not provide forensic accounting, business audits, valuations, or income tax services.
When required, I refer any such work to other qualified CPAs who do. I also do not act as a mediator; rather, I help my clients prepare for and succeed at it.
Collective Agreement empowers executors and trustees to take a more active role in estate/trust administration, by combining innovative legal technology designed for estates and trusts professionals with a personalized, hands-on approach to guide them through all the complexities of the probate and trusteeship process.
I am a Good Fit For:
Clients named as an executor or trustee and want to retain the role, who would benefit from help with administering the estate/trust.
Executors and trustees, or their counsel, who require assistance with their fiduciary accounting requirements, including court-formatted reporting for passing of accounts.
Complex or contentious estates and trusts, to assist with dispute resolution or as an estate/trust monitor, and as needed client-based litigation support.
Advisors involved in estate planning, to help clients gather relevant details and for an objective perspective or client stakeholder alignment.
Professional Registrations & Industry Affiliations
CPA, CA: Chartered Professional Accountants, Ontario
CEA: Canadian Institute of Certified Executor Advisors
EPCT: Estate Planning Council of Toronto
This overview is available to be downloaded from my LinkedIn page (or contact me to send it to you).
Bruce Young, CPA, CA, CEA_Estate & Trust Advisory Services Overview (CA 2025).pdfReport abuse