Services for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Self-Employed Individuals

A business contingency plan is a documented plan that explains how your business actually works — your accounts, your clients, your operations, your key contacts — so that someone else could step in and keep things running if you suddenly couldn't.

It's different from a will because it doesn't deal with who inherits what. It deals with how your business survives a crisis, whether that's a planned absence, an illness, or something more permanent.

These terms are often used interchangeably, and in practice they overlap a lot.

Generally, business continuity planning refers to a business's ability to keep operating through any disruption — a cyberattack, a supply chain issue, a natural disaster, an economic downturn.

Business contingency planning, especially in the context of a sole owner or small business, focuses specifically on what happens if the owner themselves becomes unavailable — through illness, incapacity, or death.

For a solo entrepreneur, the two are closely connected because the biggest risk to "continuity" usually is the owner.

Succession planning is about the long-term, intentional transition of your business — retirement, selling the business, passing it to a family member, or stepping back from leadership over time. It's planned and proactive.

Business contingency planning is about the short-term and unplanned scenarios — what happens if you're suddenly unavailable tomorrow, whether for two weeks or permanently.

Most business owners need both, but they answer different questions.

Not automatically — and this is one of the most important things business owners don't realize.

If your spouse works in your business but their name isn't on the corporation, the business bank account, or your registration documents, they have no legal authority over the business just because they're your spouse or because they've been doing the work.

If you become incapacitated, they would need a valid Power of Attorney naming them specifically.

If you pass away, they would need to be appointed as your estate trustee — which, if you have no will, requires a court application, even though they may have been running the books and supporting your operations for years.

Being involved in a business and having legal authority over it are two very different things in the eyes of Ontario law.

Yes — in some ways, sole proprietors are more exposed, not less.

A sole proprietorship has no separate legal existence from you. If you become incapacitated or pass away, the business itself doesn't continue automatically; only certain assets can be transferred, and your business name registration does not transfer to anyone else.

Without documentation, your family may not even know what client relationships exist, what's owed to you, or what subscriptions and accounts need to be cancelled.

Being unincorporated doesn't reduce the need for a plan — it often increases it.

A "what if I die" plan is a practical, organized document — not a legal one — that brings together everything your family or estate trustee would need if something happened to you.

It includes your business operations, your account details and credentials, your key contacts, your legal documents' locations, and your personal wishes.

It complements your will and your Powers of Attorney rather than replacing them.

Some people find the traditional language of "estate planning" or "succession planning" abstract and easy to put off.

Calling it a "what if I die" plan tends to make the urgency — and the relief of finally doing it — much more real.

Start small.

You don't need to document everything at once.

Begin by writing down the three to five things that absolutely cannot be missed if you were suddenly unavailable for a week — recurring bills, client check-ins, critical deadlines.

Then, identify who would need to know your business bank account and CRA My Business Account details.

From there, build outward: your key documents, your client list, your legal paperwork.

A guided framework — like a preparedness consultation or a structured workbook — can help you avoid missing the most critical pieces, but the most important step is simply starting.