May 2022

What if… the Kardashian Deathbed Marriage Took Place under Ontario Law?

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A Thought Experiment Recently, I had the opportunity to co-author a paper on deathbed retainers with Justin de Vries. In drafting this paper, I had the occasion to think about deathbed wills from every conceivable angle. The idea for this blog started as footnote 81: a hypothetical thought experiment on the legal interaction between a deathbed marriage and a deathbed will. Case law on deathbed retainers and wills stand at….

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Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Interest, Uncategorized

What Happens When a Shareholder (Voting) or a Director Becomes Incapable; Powers of Attorney for Property and Shareholder Agreement Drafting Tips

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This is Part II of my saga on addressing circumstances of incapacity, Part I can be found at: https://allaboutestates.ca/powers-of-attorney-for-property-implications-of-obtaining-a-formal-capacity-assessment/. Part II, being this blog post, addresses two situations that we, as estate planners, are commonly asked about: Director becomes incapable – who can sign for them? Shareholder (voting) becomes incapable – who can attend to governance regarding electing directors and officers and what can be considered at the shareholder agreement….

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Capacity Law, Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Power of Attorney, Wills

Seven Faces of Philanthropy

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  The Seven Faces of Philanthropy: A New Approach to Cultivating Major Donors is an iconic American fundraising book published in 1994.  In it authors Russ Allen Prince and Karen Maru File neatly categorize charitable profiles.  While written for a fundraising audience, the book is a helpful reminder that charitable motivations are diverse.  There is not a single way that donors approach philanthropy. The book focuses on lifetime “major gifts”….

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Charitable Giving, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

Testamentary Capacity and Expert Reports

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As many well know, issues relating to testamentary capacity are often at the forefront of estate litigation cases and in particular, will challenges. Drafting solicitors may opt to obtain a contemporaneous capacity assessment before their clients execute a last will and testament; this may be the case where the testator is older or has cognitive limitations, and/or when there are known family conflicts and an anticipated will challenge. In addition,….

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Capacity Law, Courts, Estate Litigation, Undue influence, Wills

When (Y)Our Help is Refused

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“I don’t need anything…. I am fine…… Leave me alone…..” Do any of these refrains sound familiar to you? Last week I was part of a conversation during which a group of woman friends got together to brain storm ways to assist another one of their friends, who has a very complicated health history including  uncontrolled diabetes, has had several falls including one which resulted in a broken hip and….

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Caregiving

Life changes…so why shouldn’t your Will?

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Today’s blog was written by Courtney Lanthier, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP I’ve had a few instances where clients have asked “is this really my LAST will, or will I be doing this all over again in five or ten years?” which, in fairness, is a great question. As estate practitioners, we know that the passage of time does not invalidate a Will, however if certain circumstances in your clients’….

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Estate Planning, Wills
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