October 2014

Elder Abuse – helping to spread the word

I recently had the pleasure of presenting to a group of seniors on the topic of Elder Abuse. The event was organized by the Sunshine Group of Seniors, part of the San Romanoway Revitalization Association. I presented along with Police Constable Amir Butt of 31 Division. P.C. Butt explained that there are four different types of elder abuse: physical; psychological or emotional; financial; and, neglect. He explained that neglect comes in….

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Estate Planning

Mandatory Mediation – A Binding Success

In 1999, a pilot program was implemented in Toronto requiring mandatory mediation for all estates, trusts, and substitute decisions matters.  In 2002, mandatory mediation was expanded to Windsor and Ottawa.  The pilot program was considered a success and mandatory mediation has been enshrined in rule 75.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure (see the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Fact Sheet on the Mandatory Mediation program). Even in other Ontario….

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Estate Planning, Home-Right, International

‘Ralph the Programme Guy’ (part 2)

Last week, Audrey Miller took the initiative to blog about ‘Ralph the Programme Guy’ and reflected on the lesson learned from his ‘eccentric’ life and sad, lonely death. I hope that the blogosphere will forgive my indulgence in following up on an issue that is only indirectly related to testamentary capacity. Since my childhood days,  I also had known ‘Ralph’, whose real name was Rayfield Platner. Rayfield was probably a variation….

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Estate Planning

What are the Tax Consequences of Disclaiming or Releasing an Interest in a Trust? Part 1

The CRA recently began an initiative to consolidate the information provided in its income tax interpretation bulletins and income tax technical newsletters. The new publications are called “folios”. As each folio is released, it is subject to a three-month comment period. In late September, the CRA released “S6-F2-C1-Disposition of an Income Interest in a Trust”, which, among other things, summarizes the tax consequences of a disclaimer, release or surrender. A….

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Estate Litigation, Home-Right

Ralph, the Programme Guy

When everybody knows your name but very few know you. I read an obit that appeared as an announcement in a sports blog from markhebscher who read about it from Scott@randomjaysstuff. The announcement read ‘Toronto’s Witness to Sports History is Dead’. Oddly enough I knew Ralph, or should I say our family knew of Ralph, better known as ‘Ralph the Programme Guy’. In fact, in the mid 80’s we lived….

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International

New Intestacy Rules in the UK

As a common law jurisdiction with our roots in the United Kingdom it is understandable we have an interest in what happens “across the pond”. The UK has recently updated their inheritance laws and made large changes to their intestacy laws. Normally we look to the UK for changes but in this case it seems like the UK may have taken a page out of our book. The new Inheritance….

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Estate Planning, Home-Right, International
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