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Toronto Ontario Estate Law Blog
Planning for Your Digital Estate
An estimated 85% of North Americans use online financial tools such as financial accounts, bill payments and digital currency, according to a 2012 BMO Wealth Institute survey. In 2011, Canadians surveyed valued their digital assets including entertainment downloads, personal records and career information at approximately $47,000 each, as reported in
Planning with Discretionary Trusts for the Matrimonial Home
A common consideration when completing or updating your estate planning is often how best to protect assets in the event of marital breakdown–whether your own marriage, including a second marriage, or an intended beneficiary’s (e.g., a child or grandchild). The need to protect certain assets may be even more pressing
Joint Ownership – The Third Outcome
Joint ownership of property is a common estate planning tool. Where property is owned jointly with a right of survivorship (as opposed to, for example, as tenants in common), the property passes in the normal course to the surviving joint owner on the other owner’s death. In these circumstances, the
Testamentary Trusts – Is There Still a Place for Them in Your Estate Plan?
Many of you have no doubt read a summary or highlights of the 2014 Federal Budget and noted the proposal to eliminate graduated income tax rates for testamentary trusts. Rather than thinking that testamentary trust planning is dead (no pun intended), in our view there are plenty of reasons to
Mobilize Your Incapacity Planning Across Borders
Now that we’ve heard the predictions from a few furry prognosticators that winter is expected to last another six weeks, some of us may be planning extended stays at vacation properties in warmer climes. In the event that you became incapable of making either financial or personal care decisions–whether permanently
Considerations in Appointing Executors and Attorneys Out of the Jurisdiction
When considering your estate planning, an important decision is who will be your estate trustee responsible for administering your estate on your death, and as well who will be your attorney under a continuing power of attorney for property to manage your assets during your lifetime in the event that
Marriage Contracts – how enforceable are they?
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)
Congratulations to Margaret O’Sullivan, the recipient of the 2013 Ontario Bar Association Award of Excellence in Trusts and Estates Law!
Every year, the Trusts and Estates Section of the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) presents the Award of Excellence to recognize exceptional contributions and/or achievements by members of the OBA to the area of wills, trusts and estates. The criteria for the Award of Excellence are as follows: the recipient shall
Using a Trust to Hold U.S. Real Estate
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
Testamentary Freedom: A Dying (no pun intended) Legal Principle?
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
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