In Red Deer, Alberta, a dentist who has spent decades building a thriving practice now faces a question that has nothing to do with molars or root canals: how does she pass the value of her business to her 3 adult children without triggering an enormous tax bill today? The practice operates through a professional corporation, and in 2024 that corporation has grown to a fair market value of $2.8 million. The dentist is not ready to retire, but she is ready to plan, and her accountant has mentioned something called an estate freeze as a way to lock in her current tax exposure while letting future growth pass to the next generation. Before any of that planning can happen, however, the dentist must understand a threshold reality that governs professional corporations in Alberta: the rules about who can own shares, what kinds of shares they can own, and how those rules shape every estate freeze technique available to a professional practice owner. This lesson lays the foundation for the entire course by explaining the Alberta professional corporation framework as it applies to dental practice ownership transfers, because without a firm grasp of these constraints the freeze structure, the trust, and the ongoing compliance obligations that follow will make no sense at all.