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Celebrating

our 10th year
blog anniversary

Author: Margaret O'Sullivan

Powers of Attorney: Jurisdictional Challenges

A power of attorney (“POA”) is a legal document in which one person, sometimes termed the “grantor”, appoints another person – the attorney – to make decisions and act on the grantor’s behalf. In Canada, POAs are governed by provincial and territorial laws. Two types of POAs are used in

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The Cautionary Tale of Mutual Wills

Estate planning deals with often complex family situations, including the needs of blended families with complicated personal relationships. The goal of estate planning is to ensure your intentions for your loved ones are carried out. There are several ways to address blended family and second marriage situations so that the

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Embracing Change

We all sense the increasing speed of change that permeates all aspects of our everyday lives. Whether it’s technology, political or economic events, or even the weather with climate change, the constant is change itself. And with constant change comes the need to adapt to it, or even better –

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Digital Assets: Modern Realities Versus Lagging Legalities

Our digital asset inventories – electronic tools, digital currencies, files, and various online accounts – continue to grow. Five years ago, the McAfee Digital Assets Survey estimated that Canadian consumers valued their digital assets at over $32,000 per person, which is not an insignificant matter from an estate administration perspective,

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2018 Update on the UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

December 10, 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was a milestone in 1948 for protecting human rights. Surprisingly, older persons are not yet expressly identified as a protected group under international human rights laws. In acknowledgment of the Declaration, the UN International Day

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Appointing an Executor Under a Will: A Modern-Day Dilemma

Earlier this week, O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers participated as one of the gold sponsors of the STEP Canada (the Canadian branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) 20th National Conference in Toronto, which annually brings together trust and estate specialists from across Canada and other countries to share knowledge

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Never Too Young To Start: Estate Planning

Millennials are a loosely defined group of people (those born approximately between 1981 to 2001) who are now beginning to enter the workforce and acquire their own assets. With an aging population it is inevitable that there will be a significant wealth transfer between baby boomers and millennials over the

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Children, Equality and Inheritance: Your Final Legacy

On May 4, 2018, we celebrate our firm’s 20th anniversary. I thought it would be fitting as well as helpful to reflect on one of the most challenging questions in family succession: whether children should be treated equally. Being a trust and estate lawyer now for over thirty-five years has

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The Rule Against Perpetuities: A Dying Relic 

The Rule Against Perpetuities (the “Rule”) is an old and complex legal rule that aims to prevent the delay of vesting of many types of transferred property interests beyond the “Perpetuities Period” and is the bane of many lawyers who draft wills and trusts. A property interest vests when it

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