Learn how to handle client intent, legal documents, capacity, and family facts in FP Canada CFP vignettes, with case-triage steps, learning objectives, traps, and issue hierarchy.
Use this CFP vignette article to study Client Intent, Legal Documents, Capacity, and Family Facts inside the Estate Planning and Law for Financial Planning chapter. Vignette questions are not simple definition checks. They ask you to read a client file, identify the decisive facts, and choose the recommendation or next step that fits the whole case.
| Case concept | How to use it in a vignette |
|---|---|
| identify estate-planning documents and family facts needed before | Use the vignette facts to identify estate-planning documents and family facts needed before making a recommendation. |
| distinguish wills, powers of attorney, personal directives, mandates, | Use the vignette facts to distinguish wills, powers of attorney, personal directives, mandates, and beneficiary designations by function. |
| recognize when capacity, undue influence, or family conflict | Use the vignette facts to recognize when capacity, undue influence, or family conflict should pause implementation. |
| determine which executor, trustee, guardian, or attorney facts | Use the vignette facts to determine which executor, trustee, guardian, or attorney facts are relevant to the planning issue. |
| assess whether client intent is clear enough to | Use the vignette facts to assess whether client intent is clear enough to support estate-planning analysis. |
For this section, treat each fact as either decisive, supporting, distracting, or missing. The strongest answer usually depends on the fact that changes the recommendation, not the first familiar term in the case.
Do not treat estate documents as background. Capacity, ownership, beneficiary, liquidity, family, and tax facts often control the recommendation.
| If the vignette emphasizes… | First check… | Stronger answer usually does this |
|---|---|---|
| competing goals | which goal is urgent, feasible, or legally required | ranks the issues before recommending |
| missing information | whether the file supports advice yet | gathers or verifies facts before final advice |
| product or tactic | tax, cash-flow, risk, beneficiary, liquidity, and timing effects | chooses a recommendation that fits the client file |
| professional judgment | scope, competence, conflict, disclosure, or documentation | protects the client interest and documents the basis |
Use a four-pass read: intent, authority, transfer mechanism, and liquidity or tax consequence. In review, rewrite each missed vignette as objective -> constraint -> decisive fact -> rejected distractor -> best next step. That sequence usually reveals whether the miss was caused by reading speed, issue priority, or planning knowledge.
Use the CFP Vignette Study Plan for pacing, the CFP Vignette Cheat Sheet for quick case triage, and CFP vignette practice when you are ready for timed case application.