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Toronto Ontario Estate Law Blog
A New Protective Regime for an Aging Society?
If you have a child or spouse, you may be surprised to learn that you have no automatic right to manage their property should they become incapable and unable to make decisions unaided. Capable adults in Ontario can make a continuing power of attorney for property to allow one or
New Ontario Estate Administration Tax Act Regime Effective January 1, 2015
Organizing one’s estate planning to minimize estate administration taxes or “probate fees” (the tax collected by the Ontario government on the date of death value of a deceased’s estate when an estate representative applies to the court for a certificate of appointment) has been a popular goal for Ontarians given
Heads Up: Grappling with Family Law’s Treatment of Discretionary Trust Interests
Discretionary trusts are common estate planning tools used for a variety of reasons such as tax minimization and general wealth protection, including protection on matrimonial breakdown and from creditors. These trusts are often used in an estate freeze where shares in privately-held corporations are “frozen” to defer capital gains liability
Beneficiary Designations – Problems and Pitfalls of Using Financial Institutions’ Standard Forms
The case of Kilitzoglou v. Cure highlights the confusion and difficulty sometimes caused when an issuer of a life insurance policy or retirement plan requires a beneficiary designation to conform to its standard form and rules. In that case, the deceased filed a change of beneficiary designation form with Trans-America
Ethical Wills
You may or may not have heard of the term “ethical will”. An ethical will doesn’t deal with money or assets, but instead with values, beliefs, words of wisdom, inner thoughts, and family history and tradition. We predict it will become a more common part of the estate planning process
Fiduciary Accounting – Slicing the Pie Without Causing Indigestion
Transparency has become a powerful discussion point in recent years. A lack of corporate financial transparency has arguably been the cause of many modern major financial crises and corporate bankruptcies. Whether you agree with this view or not, transparency is a hot-button issue, both socially and politically. Lack of transparency
Successfully Navigating an Estate with Foreign Assets
For many, borders between home and foreign jurisdictions increasingly matter less and are easily overlooked when acquiring new assets, like a second home in another country and bank accounts and other financial assets. Updating your estate planning to reflect the new status quo of foreign asset ownership, however, doesn’t always
Letters of Wishes: Personal Care Matters
Advance care planning is the process of planning for your future care. An important component is documenting your wishes with respect to personal care and discussing them with your attorney for personal care, your family, and your friends, as appropriate. Wishes can be expressed in your power of attorney for
Paying for What You Get: General Considerations for Compensating Executors, Trustees and Attorneys
One aspect of estate planning which is often not considered is how executors, trustees and attorneys should be compensated. Yet compensation claims are a frequent matter of contention and resentment, create disputes between executors, trustees, attorneys and beneficiaries, and can even result in litigation. Common scenarios include the executor, trustee
Globalization, Wealth Planning and the Mobile Client
The world is only getting smaller, not bigger. Technological change combined with affluence has increased our connectivity. People are travelling more and increasingly buying foreign real estate and residing in different parts of the world for extended periods of time – often in warmer climates south of the border in