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COQUITLAM · GOLD CARD FIELD GUIDE

Do dependants carry the US$2 million rate or the US$1 million one?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

Each joining spouse and each unmarried child under 21 carries US$1 million, not US$2 million; the higher figure applies to the corporate principal. With one spouse and one child, dependant gifts add US$2 million and dependant fees add US$30,000. Applying the corporate rate across the whole household would overstate the budget by two million dollars.

Check the arithmetic line by line

Write the budget as four lines rather than one total: US$2 million for the principal, US$1 million for the spouse, US$1 million for the child, and US$15,000 in fees against each name. That format makes an error visible and shows immediately what changes if a second child is added or a dependant is left out. Have someone outside the drafting team check it before approval.

Keep the two rates labelled so nobody merges them later. Add one further check to that four-line format: what the arithmetic becomes if the household changes. A second child, a child reaching an age threshold during the process, a marriage, or a separation each alters who is included and therefore the total, and a budget written around a fixed household will not answer the question when it arises.

State whether the company's commitment is a figure or a set of named people, and what happens if the two stop matching. Hypothetical example: an agreement names a principal and two dependants with any change requiring fresh approval, which is less generous than an open commitment and considerably clearer to both sides than a document that never contemplated a third child arriving mid-process.