our 10th year
blog anniversary
Perhaps I should refrain from re-stating the obvious, but it bears repeating–we live in an increasingly global and mobile society, where people move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction with relative ease. And when we’re not picking up and moving residences, we’re travelling to foreign destinations and buying property, opening bank accounts
Sometimes the law leads in pushing societal change forward, but often it lags far behind, particularly in the face of scientific innovation and rapid technological change. Over the past forty years or so, even how we define family has been subject to fundamental change, and in the future it will
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
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
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
Individuals in Ontario are free to pass their property on death as they wish, subject to certain legal limitations. This ability is often referred to as testamentary freedom and is a hallmark of English common law. Over the years, testamentary freedom has lost ground to other public policy objectives, such
Charity begins at home, so they say. This may be where it starts, but your estate plan is where your charity may end. Most of us will donate time or money to one cause or another during our lifetimes (who doesn’t love Girl Guide cookies?). When we die, however, our
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