Toronto Ontario Estate Law Blog

Underused Housing Tax  The federal Underused Housing Tax Act became effective January 1, 2022, and the first tax returns for those who need to file are due in 2023. It imposes a 1% annual tax on the value of residential real estate in Canada owned by any non-resident, non-Canadian that

What is the current state of play when it comes to U.S. estate tax, including its impact on many Canadian tax residents and others with U.S. connections? First, an update on some key tax rates and concepts for 2023. The lifetime exclusion amount has increased substantially due to the rise

A Continuing Power of Attorney for Property and a Power of Attorney for Personal Care are simple but powerful documents. In short, a Power of Attorney is a document in which the grantor appoints another person – the attorney – the power to act on the grantor’s behalf including in

Digital assets, simply put, are anything stored digitally which has value, either financial, sentimental or otherwise, as further described below. These days, keeping track of your digital assets (login emails and passwords) is an important part of estate planning. Keeping accurate records of your digital assets makes your estate and

Testamentary freedom – the freedom to dispose of your estate as you wish – is a longstanding principle in Canada and other common law jurisdictions, although each province and territory in Canada has its own governing legislation as well as its own developing caselaw. In contrast, forced heirship is the

It is the beginning of a new year and time to reflect on the last three years or so, what impact the pandemic has had on the trust and estate world, and what the way forward will be. So much has changed in so short a period in how professional

Heading into a new year is always a great time to think about what you need to accomplish over the next 12 months. Preparing or updating your estate plan is usually high on that list. But in some cases, you may not be as concerned with your estate plan as

In January of this year, my blog “New Year, New Estate Laws Are Here,” summarized the substantive changes to Ontario estate and trust law which came into effect on January 1, 2022. These changes were significant, and we expected significant litigation to go along with them. So far, this abundance

Under a continuing power of attorney for property (for ease of reference, referred to throughout this blog as a power of attorney), a grantor can give the authority to one or more people to manage their money and property on their behalf. In Ontario, the person appointed in this role

I recently had the pleasure to participate in a webinar for the Canadian Legal Innovation Forum on contemporary drivers, trends and disruptive forces in estates practice and how estate lawyers are evolving their practices to meet them. One of the topics addressed in our panel discussion was generational and societal