That is the partnership this page describes. We work alongside you, not around you.
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What we are, in one line
Leyland & Matters is a boutique life insurance advisory led by two Chartered Professional Accountants, CPA, CA, that takes referral cases from accountants and other advisors. We handle corporate-owned insurance, Capital Dividend Account strategies, estate tax funding, and equalization. You keep the client relationship. We handle the insurance piece and report back to you. We are not a brokerage chasing volume. We take a small number of complex cases and treat each one the way you would. You can read how an engagement runs on our process page.
The cases accountants send us
These are the files that show up at year end or in an estate review, where the right answer runs through an insurance contract you do not place yourself.
Incorporated owners with trapped retained earnings and the passive income grind
Your client has real surplus inside the company, and his passive investment income is creeping toward the threshold that claws back the small business deduction. You see the problem on the return every year. The fix often involves moving some of that surplus into an exempt corporately-owned policy, where the growth is sheltered and the death benefit later credits the Capital Dividend Account. We model that for your client and walk through the trade-offs with you. Our companion page on corporate-owned life insurance covers the mechanics in full.
Families facing a large deemed disposition bill at death
A client with a cottage, rental properties, private company shares, or a large registered account is carrying a deemed disposition that lands on the final return. The family often has to sell an asset they wanted to keep just to cover the tax. Insurance is the standard tool to fund that bill so the estate stays intact. We size the liability with you and build the coverage to match it. See our page on life insurance to pay estate taxes in Canada.
Family business succession and estate equalization
One child runs the business, the others do not, and the company is most of the estate. Splitting it evenly is rarely fair or clean. Insurance can fund a cash inheritance for the children outside the business, so the operating child keeps the company and the rest are made whole. We structure that with you and the family's lawyer. Our page on estate equalization for family business owners goes deeper.
Charitable and legacy giving structured through insurance
A client wants to leave a meaningful gift to charity without shrinking what reaches the family. Insurance can amplify a gift and create tax efficiency on the estate at the same time, sometimes turning the tax that would have gone to the CRA into a gift the client actually chose to make. We build the structure around the client's intent and coordinate the numbers with you. The guiding frame holds across all of these cases: leave more of the wealth to family and charity, and less to the CRA.
If a file does not fit one of these patterns, tell us anyway. Part of the value of a specialist is a quick, honest read on whether there is a strategy worth pursuing, so you are not left guessing on a client's behalf.
How the referral actually works
You stay the primary advisor
This is the part that matters most. You stay the primary relationship. We do the insurance piece and report back to you. We do not touch the rest of the relationship, we do not cross-sell, and we do not go looking for the work you already do for the client. Your client comes back to you, with the insurance handled and you in the loop the whole way. The introduction should strengthen your standing with the client, not put it at risk. A specialist who solved a hard problem cleanly reflects well on the advisor who made the call.
Start with an anonymous proposal
You do not have to name the client to get started. With basic anonymous details about the situation, the surplus, the structure, the ages, the goal, we build a proposal that shows the approach before anyone is identified. You see exactly what we would recommend and how the numbers shape up, then you decide whether and how to bring us in. This mirrors the offer in Doug Leyland's Trusted Advisor's Playbook, and it keeps the first step low-commitment for you and your client.
We coordinate with you on the numbers
CPA to CPA. We model the after-tax outcome, share the working assumptions, and keep you in the loop so the insurance plan fits the tax and estate plan you already have in place. You are not handing off a black box. You are adding a specialist who reports back in language you use every day. When the case touches the small business deduction grind, the deemed disposition on the final return, or a Capital Dividend Account election, you will recognize the analysis, because it is the same analysis you would run.
Send us an anonymous client situation
Why a CPA, CA specialist, not a product salesperson
Doug Leyland and Jordan Matters are both Chartered Professional Accountants, CPA, CA, with more than 35 years of combined wealth management and life insurance experience. Doug built yourCFO to $750 million in client assets and wrote The Trusted Advisor's Playbook for Legacy and Estate Planning. We are independent, with access to every major Canadian carrier, so the recommendation is built around your client's numbers rather than one company's product shelf. The process is led by the math, not the product. Your client is treated the way you would treat them, which is the only standard that protects your name on the introduction.
This is the same approach we bring to high net worth life insurance in Canada and to the Capital Dividend Account and life insurance, where the structure has to be right before any policy is placed.
How this differs from a typical insurance referral
You already know what a bad referral looks like. Here is how the partnership is set up to be different, side by side.
| A typical product referral | Working with Leyland & Matters | |
|---|---|---|
| Who stays primary | The advisor often goes after the wider relationship | You stay primary. We handle the insurance and report back |
| Where it starts | The client is named and pitched right away | An anonymous proposal, before anyone is identified |
| What drives the recommendation | One company's product shelf and the commission on it | The after-tax numbers, independent across all carriers |
| Who speaks your language | A salesperson, not a numbers person | Two CPA, CA advisors who model the outcome with you |
| How it reflects on you | If it goes sideways, it lands on your name | The client comes back to you, well served |
Who we partner with
We work with professionals who need an insurance specialist for complex corporate and high net worth cases, and who want to keep their own client relationship intact.
- CPAs and accounting firms with incorporated and affluent clients
- Estate and tax lawyers handling succession and complex estates
- IIROC and wealth advisors whose clients need insurance-based solutions outside their mandate
In every case the arrangement is the same. You stay the primary advisor. We handle the insurance and report back.
Working with Leyland & Matters on this
Starting is simple. Book a short partner conversation, or send us an anonymous client situation and we will show you the approach before anyone is named. You can learn more about the firm on our team and about pages, and see how an engagement runs on our process page.
Your client stays yours. We handle the insurance and make you look good for the introduction.
Common questions
Will you try to take over my client relationship?
No. You stay the primary advisor. We handle the insurance piece you referred and report back to you. We do not pursue the tax work, the financial planning, or any other part of the relationship you already own. The whole model depends on you trusting that we send the client back to you, so protecting your relationship is in our interest as much as yours.
What kinds of cases should I refer?
The complex ones where the answer runs through an insurance contract. Incorporated owners with surplus and a passive income problem, families facing a large deemed disposition at death, business succession that needs equalization, and clients structuring charitable gifts. If you are not sure a case fits, send us the situation anonymously and we will tell you plainly whether there is something worth doing.
How does the anonymous proposal work?
You give us the basic shape of the situation without naming the client. We use that to build a proposal showing the approach and the after-tax outcome. You review it, and only then do you decide whether to introduce us. Nobody is named until you choose to make the introduction, which keeps the first step easy for you and your client.
Do you work with my client's existing lawyer and advisors?
Yes. We expect to sit alongside the client's existing team. The insurance plan has to fit the tax plan and the estate plan, so we coordinate with you, the lawyer, and any other advisors rather than working in isolation. Good insurance structure depends on the rest of the file being right.
How are referrals compensated and disclosed?
We keep this clean and transparent. Any referral arrangement is disclosed to the client in writing, and we follow the disclosure standards that apply to your profession and to ours. The specifics depend on your firm, your professional body, and the nature of the case, so we set the terms up front rather than after the fact. We are happy to walk you through how this works for your firm before any client is involved, so the arrangement fits your obligations from the start. If your firm has its own referral policy, we work within it.