Last week I stopped by Walter Beauchamp Tailors to purchase a new tie (I was attracted by the “clearance sale” sign in the window). As fortune would have it the owner, Terry Beauchamp, was the person who helped me out. I asked Terry if the store was closing. Terry, who is in his mid ‘60s and still looks great, told me that it was time to enter the next stage….
A Business Succession Success Story Continue Reading »
Estate PlanningMy colleague, Diane Vieira, recently blogged about the Divisional Court’s decision in Quinn v. Carrigan. While she highlighted what the case had to say about the proper approach to determining dependant’s support, the case is also instructive on who should bear the costs of a dependant support application. Prior to McDougald Estate v. Gooderham and Salter v. Salter Estate (in which Justice Brown notoriously warned estate litigants that an estate….
Who Pays the Legal Costs of a Dependant’s Relief Claim? Continue Reading »
Estate Planning, Home-Right, InternationalDo you ever wonder why things are the way they are? Someone does and that someone recently asked the Canada Revenue Agency why inheritances are not taxable. Although the questioner was told by his or her accountants that inheritances are not taxable in Canada, they asked the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to reply with details of the specific legislation that carves out inheritances. In their response the CRA confirmed that….
Tax Treatment of Monetary Inheritances Continue Reading »
Estate PlanningIn my last blog, Who Knew There is a Benefit to Having Two Spouses, I spoke of the ability to benefit from a rollover for income tax purposes in respect of property that passes to two different individuals, each of whom qualifies as the spouse or common-law partner of the deceased taxpayer. Subsequent to that blog I received several responses from readers providing me with additional food for thought on….
SEPARATED COMMON LAW SPOUSES DON’T BENEFIT FROM ROLLOVERS – THE SEQUEL Continue Reading »
Estate Planning, Home-Right“For most people in the developed world, conversations about such topics (as death) never take place. Young people remark in passing that they would rather be dead than go into a nursing home; that they do not want to die in hospital; that they do not want a drawn-out, agonising end. The closer that end is, the less it is talked about. The result is that hard choices are made….
The End of Life-Discussion Continue Reading »
Estate Planning, Home-Left, InternationalAmong other medico-legal concepts, the ‘lucid interval’ is a long held concept widely accepted in case law as a possible means of countering a challenge to testamentary and related capacities. In parallel, the clinical phenomenon of cognitive fluctuation has been considered a common element of several neurodegenerative disorders (dementias) including Alzheimer Disease, but especially prevalent in Vascular Dementia and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. In the spirit of the philosopher Karl….
Is there such a thing as a ‘Lucid Interval’ in dementia? Continue Reading »
Elder Care, Estate Planning, Home-Right