Category: Blog

Executing estate planning documents during a global pandemic is a problem facing lawyers throughout many parts of the world. Traditional formalities for wills and powers of attorney are stricter than for most legal documents. In Ontario and many common law jurisdictions, the law requires a will to be in writing and

Alter Ego Trusts (“AETs”) and Joint Partner Trusts (“JPTs”) are effective tools to assist in probate and incapacity planning. AETs and JPTs are inter vivos trusts (meaning they are set up during a person’s lifetime), to which persons 65 years or older can transfer assets on a tax-deferred basis. An

While it will likely never be the subject of a hit play like “Death of a Salesman”, the death or incapacity of a trustee can have serious practical and financial implications for a trust, and by extension, the beneficiaries of the trust. All too often, the practical and legal requirements

With an aging population, and the trillion dollar transfer of wealth to occur in the face of a shrinking income tax base, and in the face of what some assert is an increasing concentration of wealth at the top, the burning question is whether new forms of death taxes will

In early February, I had the opportunity and pleasure of participating in a panel discussion of lawyers from several jurisdictions, including the U.S., Mexico, and Italy, at an international legal conference on the interesting topic “Inheritance Tax – Should More Countries Implement It?”. We discussed and compared how our different

Statistics tell us that the number of U.S. citizens who expatriated from, or renounced, their U.S. citizenship has risen dramatically in the past few years. A big part of this rise has to do with increasingly onerous U.S. income tax filing and reporting obligations, combined with scrutiny of foreign accounts