February 2017

Guardianship Decisions – The Sequel

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This Blog was written by: Natalie Rouse Last week I wrote about some basic matters to consider when appointing someone as a child’s guardian. The person named as a guardian in a will must have that appointment confirmed in court. Courts are more likely to accept the appointment of a parent as guardian versus a non-parent. However, if there’s no suitable other parent, or in the case where both parents….

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Estate Planning, Guardianship, Uncategorized

Dismal Results for Dreadful Estate Trustee

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A recent case of the Ontario Superior Court (Silva et. al v. Silva (Estate of)) demonstrates the wide remedies available to beneficiaries whose interests have been prejudiced by the misconduct of an estate trustee. Jose Lima Silva died without a will on June 24, 2015. He was survived by 5 children and appointed one of his sons, the respondent, as the estate trustee of his estate. The other four adult….

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Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Uncategorized

GAAR and 21-year rule planning

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The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked to comment on the implications of a transfer of property from a discretionary trust (Old Trust) to a Canadian corporation wholly owned by a new discretionary trust (New Trust). The 21-year deemed disposition rule provides that every 21 years in a family trust’s life, the CRA looks at the property in a trust as if it were the property of someone who had….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, Executors, Trusts

Let’s Talk About Mental Illness

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Good mental health is important. A few weeks ago was Bell Canada’s ‘Let’s Talk Day’ which was about raising awareness and money for mental health improvement. This year, Bell Canada had 131,705,010 interactions from people like you and me either tweeting, calling, posting on Instagram, viewing a Facebook video or texting on January 25, all raising awareness of mental health issues. For each of these interactions, Bell donated .5 cents….

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Caregiving, Disability

Multiple Wills: Part 4

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In my last blog on multiple wills for probate planning I began a discussion of some considerations when defining the classes of assets that fall into the “non-probate” will (which I refer to as the “Secondary Will”) and the “probate” will (which I refer to as the “Primary Will”). I left off with the point that if a person has assets that could normally be dealt with under a Secondary….

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Uncategorized

And the Oscar goes to………..

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This Blog was written by : Natalie Rouse   The 2017 Oscars are just around the corner and last year’s drama “Manchester By the Sea”, starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, is sitting pretty. It has been nominated for a whopping 6 awards. It also recently won the Golden Globe for Best Actor, and was nominated in 4 other categories. The movie tells the story of Joe, who is a….

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Estate Planning, Guardianship, Uncategorized, Wills
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