January 2014

It’s not unusual for parents during their lifetime to lend money to children. In many cases, the loans do not bear interest and have no set repayment terms. Sometimes those kids even move away and when that happens the loan receivable by the parent becomes a foreign asset that may be subject to the foreign reporting rules and disclosures of Form T1135 – or do they? For purposes of the….

Readers of this blog who are in some manner associated with federal non-profit corporations will likely already be aware that a new federal non-profit corporate statute, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act or “CNCA”, was proclaimed into force on October 17, 2011. The CNCA does not automatically apply to existing federal non-profit corporations currently governed by Part II of the Canada Corporations Act or the “CCA”. CCA corporations will continue to….

Yesterday was Bell Canada’s ‘Let’s Talk’ day which is in support of mental health awareness. Bell has opted to talk openly about mental illness with the hope of reducing stigma so that people can get the help they need. One in five Canadians will have or have had a mental illness. This illness crosses all ages and Dementia, which I blog about routinely, is also defined within the mental health….

Last week the Supreme Court of Canada came out with its long awaited decision in the Combined Air Mechanical Services Inc. v. Flesch omnibus ruling.  The appeals were dismissed; however, the Supreme Court found the Court of Appeal’s full appreciation test too burdensome and creates a new Roadmap/Approach to be used on Summary Judgment motions. The test is as follows: The judge should first determine if there is a genuine….

Years ago I worked at a charitable foundation of a large cancer hospital. One day I was visited by an older patient who wanted to donate shares owned by his late wife. He was her executor and sole beneficiary, and two years after her death he had not initiated the administration of her estate. Clearly overwhelmed, he believed a gift would help simplify his life and generate some tax savings…..

In the usual litigation battle, a release operates as a “shield” in the sense that if a beneficiary sues an estate trustee, the estate trustee can use the release as a defence.  In Re: Sheard, the estate trustees were able to use signed releases to preclude them from having to pass their accounts for the period covered by releases. In Re: Sheard, the estate trustees made two interim distributions.  Each….