June 2016

Feelings not enough in cottage fight

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You have an emotional connection to your late grandfather’s cottage. Your mother and your grandfather’s estate trustees hate each other. You don’t think that they will treat you fairly if you want to buy the cottage. Is this sufficient reason to remove the estate trustees? The Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s answer is “No”. In Woolnaugh v Dare et al, 2016 ONSC 4013, one of the testator’s grandchildren applied to court to remove….

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Cottage, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation

What Can One Do About a Senior’s Decision to Live Alone at Home ‘Unsafely’?

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A frequent dilemma is the senior who is determined to remain living alone at home despite concerns that it may no longer be safe. What can one do about it? The first step is to enquire if there are power of attorney (POA) for property and personal care documents? If so, they must be reviewed to confirm whether the POA for property was active upon signing or if it is….

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Elder Care, Geriatric Care Management

SHARES ISSUED FOR NOMIMAL CONSIDERATION: BE WARY OF VALUATION

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Recently, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) was asked to comment on the tax consequences that may result from implementing an estate planning or income splitting arrangement which involves the issuance of shares that entitled the holder to discretionary dividends, for nominal consideration. The CRA was presented with a hypothetical small business corporation (“Opco”) with voting common and non-voting preference shares, both having the right to discretionary dividends to the exclusion….

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Business Succession Planning, Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Investments, Small Business, Succession Planning, Tax Issues

Estate Trustee During Litigation – A Refresher from the STEP 2016 National Conference

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The reality is, with the impending transfer of one of the largest amounts of wealth in our history from one generation to the next, we are likely to see a continued up-tick in estate litigation. Along with that there will be the increased need for a neutral party to preserve the assets of the estate during the course of such litigation…..

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Trustee Disputes

Can an executor act as a witness to a Will?

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Two witnesses are sometimes hard to find. In a pinch, could an individual who is appointed as an executor under a Will act as a witness to that Will? In Ontario, the rules governing the formalities of Wills, including the eligibility of witnesses, are set out in the Succession Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.26 (the “SLRA”). Section 14 of the SLRA states that an executor can be a….

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Estate Planning, Executors, Wills
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