our 10th year
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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
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
You’ve heard it before: there’s a lot of information out there these days. Thousands of hours of Youtube content are uploaded every day. Wikipedia entries are updated every minute. Blogs are written, websites created and refreshed. You can find information, accurate or not, on just about any subject, no matter
You may remember the bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which explores many themes, including the dichotomy between the “romantic” approach to life versus the “classical” approach–in the moment versus rational analysis–and the common ground linking them. The sense of mastery and peace of mind that comes with
In addition to purchasing a first home, the birth of a child is another momentous life event that often spurs people to prepare a will. Expecting parents and parents of young children are usually keen to put wills in place in order to ensure that if something happens to them,
In our August 2015 post entitled “Keeping Your Estate Plan Healthy with Periodic Check-Ups” we raised the potentially problematic reality that your estate plan may only be truly up-to-date the day you sign your estate planning documents. We put estate plans in place to ensure that our wishes, intentions and goals
High net worth individuals have been criticized (especially during election years) for not paying their fair share of taxes. These individuals often take advantage of legitimate tax planning strategies to lower their taxes. A portion, though, utilize evasive strategies that rely on a general lack of tax transparency between countries
In my first year of law school–1978–Ontario introduced new legislation to allow a power of attorney to survive incapacity. It’s amazing to think that prior to 1978 only legal guardianships through the court process (then called “committeeships”) were available to allow a decision-maker to act on behalf of an incapable
On January 1st, several new income tax rules for trusts and estates came into effect. An overview of these significant changes are discussed in our Special Advisory. While we understand that there is an ongoing dialogue between the Federal Ministry of Finance and several professional organizations regarding possible changes to
In our August 18, 2015 post we raised the idea of regular check-ups for your estate plan in order to keep it current. Periodic reviews help to keep you refreshed about the details of your estate plan so that it can be maintained and changed when necessary–ensuring it will carry
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