our 10th year
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Marriage contracts can certainly be sensible and valuable planning tools for protecting certain property down the road in the event of a separation or divorce. A marriage contract allows a couple some flexibility in deciding the outcome regarding property division and support if (or when, in the case of death)
Many Canadians have purchased homes south of the border encouraged by a strong Canadian dollar and a buyer’s market for U.S. real estate. In 2012, Canadians were the leading international buyers of U.S. real estate, accounting for 24% of sales to international buyers.[1] When considering a U.S. property as a
One of the hallmarks of the English common law is the notion of testamentary freedom–that each of us is free to pass our property on death as we wish, and to whom we wish, and that we can be as foolish, eccentric or capricious as we choose to be, subject
Everyone knows about the shift in demographics in our society. People are living longer; it is estimated that one in ten Canadians born today will live to be 100! An aging population puts financial strains on individual, corporate and government resources, trying to keep up with unexpected demands and unplanned-for
U.S. citizens, including dual Canadian/U.S. citizens, may want to know more about how to expatriate from their U.S. citizenship. Approximately 5600 former Americans have renounced in the last four years, coinciding with an increased general awareness of tax compliance requirements for U.S. citizens worldwide. In this blog, we discuss what
In our October 18, 2012 blog “Trusts – It’s Not All About the Tax”, I discussed a few non-tax reasons to consider in setting up a trust as part of estate and wealth planning. However, sometimes the goal is to minimize tax through income-splitting. Two methods of minimizing tax exposure
When a person dies leaving assets in more than one country, conflict of laws rules (also known as private international law or PIL rules) step in to help determine which law should govern succession of the estate. These rules are often tricky and confusing to navigate. To achieve more clarity
The U.S. Government enacted the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) in 2010 to combat offshore tax evasion, introducing detailed reporting requirements which affect some Canadian individuals with U.S. connections and Canadian financial institutions. But did you know these requirements could also affect some Canadian trusts and that trustees
If you own a family cottage or other vacation property, it may not be just a financial asset but an emotional investment for you as well, and therefore proper planning for this special asset is especially important in order to meet all your future goals for it. The financial aspects
In this blog, we highlight some special opportunities available where a non-Canadian resident passes assets on death to a Canadian resident. To illustrate, a couple of common examples: You have a parent or other relative who never lived in Canada who will be passing significant assets down to you on
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