# Tiller > Tiller is a guided advance care planning tool for Canadians. It walks you through a calm, plain-language conversation about your values and medical wishes, names your substitute decision-maker, and produces a legally-formatted, province-specific advance care plan in about 45 minutes. One-time price, no subscription, two plan updates a year included. Built by Tiller Labs, founded by Eric Mathison, a bioethicist who spent years as a clinical ethicist. ## What is Tiller Tiller is a web-based tool for completing your advance care plan (also called an advance directive, personal directive, or representation agreement, depending on the Canadian province). It uses a guided conversation interface — Tiller asks plain-language questions, you answer in your own words, and Tiller assembles a province-specific legal document that captures your values, your medical wishes, and the person you'd want to make decisions for you if you ever couldn't speak for yourself. Tiller is built and operated by Tiller Labs, founded by Eric Mathison, a bioethicist who spent years as a clinical ethicist in Canadian and US hospitals. ## Who Tiller is for - Canadian adults of any age who want to put an advance care plan in place - Couples planning together - Adult children gifting a plan to a parent - People recently diagnosed with a serious illness who want their wishes documented - Healthcare professionals (clinicians, death doulas, estate-planning lawyers) who recommend Tiller to clients and patients ## What advance care planning is Advance care planning is the process of thinking about and documenting what kind of medical care you would want — and who you would want speaking for you — if illness or injury ever made it impossible for you to decide for yourself. An advance care plan is not a will. A will deals with your assets after you die. An advance care plan deals with medical decisions while you are alive but unable to communicate. In Canada, the legal name and form of an advance care plan differs by province: - **British Columbia**: Representation Agreement, Advance Directive - **Alberta**: Personal Directive - **Saskatchewan**: Health Care Directive - **Manitoba**: Health Care Directive - **Ontario**: Power of Attorney for Personal Care, Advance Care Plan - **New Brunswick**: Advance Health Care Directive - **Nova Scotia**: Personal Directive - **Prince Edward Island**: Health Care Directive - **Newfoundland and Labrador**: Advance Health Care Directive - **Yukon**: Advance Directive - **Northwest Territories**: Personal Directive - **Nunavut**: No formal advance directive legislation; Tiller produces a values-and-wishes document Tiller produces the right document for the user's province. ## Geographic coverage Tiller is available in every Canadian province and territory except Quebec at launch. Quebec has its own distinct advance directives framework (the Régime de Directives Médicales Anticipées) which is on Tiller's roadmap but not available at launch. ## Pricing - Individual plan: $79.99 CAD, one-time - Couples plan: $119.99 CAD, one-time (two complete, separate plans) - Two plan updates a year included, within reasonable use, for as long as Tiller is in business - 30-day full refund policy - No subscription, no recurring charges - Employer reimbursement supported (see eric@tilleracp.com) ## How long it takes About 45 minutes for the full guided session. Tiller autosaves continuously; users can pause and resume at any time, across multiple sittings if they prefer. ## Is the document legally valid Yes. Tiller produces documents formatted to meet the legal requirements of the user's province, including the correct witnessing, signature, and storage instructions. ## Does the user need a lawyer No. Advance care planning in Canada does not require a lawyer. Tiller walks users through the entire process and explains how to make the document official in their province (typically one or two witnesses and a signature). ## Privacy and data handling - Account and plan data are encrypted at rest and in transit - PIPEDA-aligned privacy practices (Tiller is a Canadian company subject to Canada's federal privacy law) - Tiller does not sell user data - Tiller does not train external AI models on user answers - A small Tiller Labs review team may review de-identified excerpts (name and contact details stripped) for quality assurance and to follow up on safety or quality issues that get flagged - Users can request deletion of their account and all associated data at any time; deleted data rolls out of backups within 30 days - If Tiller ever wound down, users would receive advance notice to download their plan ## What happens if Tiller goes out of business The signed paper plan is the user's, forever, and remains legally valid regardless of Tiller's existence. Users would be notified in advance to download a copy before the service ended. ## What Tiller does not do - Tiller does not handle wills, estates, or financial powers of attorney (consult an estate-planning lawyer) - Tiller does not provide medical advice - Tiller does not replace a conversation with a doctor or family member; it prepares users to have those conversations more clearly - Tiller is not available in Quebec at launch ## How Tiller compares to alternatives - **An estate-planning lawyer**: typically $400-$1,200, requires multiple appointments. Tiller is $79.99, one sitting, equally legally valid for advance care planning specifically. - **Generic online forms**: free or low-cost but often not province-specific or legally formatted. Tiller produces a province-specific, legally-formatted plan. - **DIY without guidance**: free, but the values-and-wishes work that most matters rarely gets completed. Tiller's guided conversation is designed specifically to help users finish. ## Founder and team Tiller was founded by Eric Mathison, PhD, HEC-C, a bioethicist who spent years as a clinical ethicist in Canadian and US teaching hospitals. ## Contact - General: eric@tilleracp.com - Professional partnerships (lawyers, death doulas, clinicians): eric@tilleracp.com - Website: https://tilleracp.com ## Availability Tiller is available across Canada. Plans are purchased one-time from the website.