our 10th year
blog anniversary
When a person dies leaving assets in more than one country, conflict of laws rules (also known as private international law or PIL rules) step in to help determine which law should govern succession of the estate. These rules are often tricky and confusing to navigate. To achieve more clarity
The U.S. Government enacted the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) in 2010 to combat offshore tax evasion, introducing detailed reporting requirements which affect some Canadian individuals with U.S. connections and Canadian financial institutions. But did you know these requirements could also affect some Canadian trusts and that trustees
If you own a family cottage or other vacation property, it may not be just a financial asset but an emotional investment for you as well, and therefore proper planning for this special asset is especially important in order to meet all your future goals for it. The financial aspects
In this blog, we highlight some special opportunities available where a non-Canadian resident passes assets on death to a Canadian resident. To illustrate, a couple of common examples: You have a parent or other relative who never lived in Canada who will be passing significant assets down to you on
Canadians with connections to the U.S., including those who own U.S. assets or have family south of the border, watched with interest as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”), became law in early January 2013. The ATRA answered important questions about the future of U.S. transfer taxes, including
You may know that having a beneficiary designation for your life insurance policies or registered retirement plans (RSPs) is a good idea, including in order to avoid Ontario estate administration tax (previously probate fees) on the value of assets which would otherwise pass through your estate (see our Client Advisory
An increasing number of individuals have connections to more than one jurisdiction which can significantly affect their estate planning. In this Blog post, we explore a few special issues and considerations that need to be factored in estate planning to ensure a comprehensive and effective estate plan where there is
Many Canadians own shares of U.S. publicly traded corporations and other U.S. securities which they may not know can expose them to significant U.S. estate tax on their death and require their executors to file a U.S. estate tax return and pay any U.S. estate tax due. Pursuant to the
Recent revisions to the Estate Administration Tax Act (Ontario) under which the Province charges tax of approximately 1.5% of the value of an estate when a will is probated by the court (colloquially “probate fees”) should be of concern to everyone because of the new reporting, enforcement and penalty provisions
We increasingly see use of the term “trusted advisor”, particularly in the arena of financial and estate planning services. But what is a “trusted advisor” as opposed to someone simply providing advice? At its root I would submit is the requirement that a trusted advisor acts in the best interests
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