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Toronto Ontario Estate Law Blog
Start the New Year off on the Right Foot
As of today, according to the Gregorian calendar, we are just over one month away from ringing in the New Year. If you are already contemplating your New Year’s resolution, we thought we would help out in this blog post by providing you with a shortlist of “thinking points” for
Owning a Home Jointly with a Child – More Trouble than it’s Worth?
In Ontario, on an application for a Certificate of Appointment, the applicant must pay Ontario Estate Administration Tax (also known as “probate tax”). Probate tax is levied at an approximate rate of 1.5% on the gross value of the estate. Assets passing outside of an estate, such as jointly-owned assets,
Ethos for an Aging Society
It is quite remarkable to think that notwithstanding our increasingly aging demographic,1 the recognition of the rights of older persons as a distinct group has been largely absent in the field of human rights. Only recently the rights of older persons as a distinct group have begun to emerge and
For Better or For Worse… Especially If You Move
There are many things that we think about and plan for when we move–furniture, movers, schools, utilities… I could go on and on. There are even more things that we plan for when we move to another jurisdiction-language, taxes, visas, driving laws… and so it goes. But one thing you
Appointing Non-resident Attorneys for Property: Important Considerations
An important decision in estate planning is who to name as attorney for property. As discussed in other posts, an attorney for property is given the authority to manage your assets and finances while you are living but are incapable of doing so. A power of attorney for property or
The Emerging Role of Protectors in Canada
A “protector” is a person who is given special rights and powers under a will or a trust instrument to participate in the administration of an estate or a trust. Protectors generally provide an oversight function–they ensure the trustees are administering the trust in accordance with the testator’s or settlor’s
Don’t let cross-border properties turn into cross-border pains
Perhaps I should refrain from re-stating the obvious, but it bears repeating–we live in an increasingly global and mobile society, where people move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction with relative ease. And when we’re not picking up and moving residences, we’re travelling to foreign destinations and buying property, opening bank accounts
Redefining Family
Sometimes the law leads in pushing societal change forward, but often it lags far behind, particularly in the face of scientific innovation and rapid technological change. Over the past forty years or so, even how we define family has been subject to fundamental change, and in the future it will
The Many and Varied Uses of Letters of Wishes in Your Estate Plan
Estate planning documents (such as a will, power of attorney for property, power of attorney for personal care, Henson-type trust and/or inter vivos trust) are the legal framework of an estate plan–the “apparatus”–which can seem to be a tricky network of legal rules, directions, and often unavoidably, a lot of
The Two Certainties: Death and (Foreign) Taxes
A failure to take into account taxes on death can often defeat an estate plan. It can result in a smaller estate being available for distribution and it can also result in some beneficiaries bearing a disproportionate amount of the estate’s tax burden. While most estate plans take into account
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