O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers
in the Media
O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers in the Media
The Toronto-based trust and estate lawyers at O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers are regularly sought by reporters, editors, as well as TV and radio producers for their thought leadership, opinions and analysis of important and topical trust and estate issues which impact families in wealth succession and planning.
They are also regular columnists for The Lawyer’s Daily, published by LexisNexis, one of Canada’s most important publications for the legal profession, as well as Advisor’s Edge, published by Newcom. The firm is also a member of Mondaq, and has a robust listing of articles which are distributed through the Mondaq Global Network, with more than 1 million members worldwide, including lawyers, accountants, as well as C-suite executives and business owners.
For modern families, modern estate planning
When I first started practising estate planning, the traditional nuclear family composed of a married male and female with children represented by far the majority of my clients, with very few exceptions. Now, from a societal viewpoint, the traditional nuclear family is in the minority, comprising approximately only about a third of North American households.
CRA clarifications boost the case for joint partner trusts
“It’s very helpful to know that both spouses can contribute, because it removes some question marks and reduces the risk of duplication,” said Margaret O’Sullivan, managing partner with O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers LLP in Toronto. “Overall, [this position] offers a little bit more flexibility, which is always welcome.”
Globe Advisor Weekly Newsletter
There’s ‘a lot of apathy’ about updating estate planning documents
Globe Advisor spoke with Ms. O’Sullivan, whose firm recently published the book, Trust and Estate Essentials: Achieving Success in Family Succession, Second Edition, about how advisors should approach estate planning with their clients.
Expect the unexpected: New trust reporting, disclosure rules
Here’s an overview of what you need to know if you are a trustee of an existing trust. First, you’ll need to determine if your trust is caught by the new rules. Exemptions are narrow.
The estate documents are signed, now what?
You’ve gone through the process of executing your will(s), continuing power of attorney for property and power of attorney for personal care… now what? This article looks at some of the considerations after you have signed your key estate planning documents.
Inheritance tax: The challenges of wealth and income inequality
There is pressure on governments worldwide to use the tax system as one approach to address these issues, including targeting the wealthy, in one form or another.
Disinheriting a child easier in some provinces than others
Ontario judges are also empowered to void wills that offend public policy, but it was the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision not to intervene in the case of Spence v BMO Trust Company that reinforced the strength of testamentary freedom in the province, said Marly Peikes, a partner with O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers in Toronto.
“When you get into public policy questions, it gets messy,” she said. “But I’m not sure it’s the court’s role to go digging through the layers of a person’s decision to disinherit a child.”
The trustee as genie: A letter of wishes
In the world of estate planning, a genie is not the only one who could potentially grant you a wish: your trustee may also be able to do this with the help of a letter of wishes.