December 2022

By Branch But Within Its Own Class: Interpreting Per Stirpes in a Will

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Per stirpes. It is a term that is often used in estate planning and will drafting yet is also one which frequently causes problems. Perhaps because the meaning is not always understood, even by estates practitioners, and therefore the term is misused. Or it could be because the term can be interpreted differently when a testator’s intentions are taken into account.  In the recent decision in Jonas v Jonas, 2022….

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Estate Litigation, Wills

What is your holiday tradition?

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With holidays around the corners, I thought I would repost a seasonal blog. The holidays can be a wonderful time to spend together with loved ones, remembering the meaning of the season and celebrating together. When visiting with and sharing time with a family member who has dementia, the challenge is with the expectation. The Alzheimer’s Society notes that often caregivers must deal with feelings and emotions that arise when….

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Caregiving

Digital Assets: How Advisors are Changing the World

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While I enjoy writing about the legal aspects of digital assets in estate planning and administration, I don’t think that I have spent enough time focusing on the work of the wonderful advisors in this space: technology consultants, lawyers and policy analysts among them. The efforts of these advisors have helped shape the law, internationally, in an area where legal guidance has desperately been needed. As time goes on, I….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, International

Greeting a new day

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As the days get shorter, so it seems does our tolerance levels. Families seem to be a lot more stressed.  As I have always said, families are complicated and whether it is the aftermath of two years of ‘social distancing’ or just a steady development of older age and more money- families are simply not getting along. I am seeing a steady increasing in requests for our Functional Living Assessment,….

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Caregiving

The Secret Language of Estates, and Inflation

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Estates clerks and lawyers “speak” their own language.  We use acronyms or initialisms[1] such as CAET, EIR, RCP, ARI, AET, GRE, POA and COLA.  We use abbreviations like Benys and T’ees, and we draw triangles.  The idea for this blog was born when reflecting on having to interpret a lawyer’s handwritten notes for an assistant last week and on answering a “silly” question for a corporate colleague earlier this week. ….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Uncategorized

Dead people who made WAY more money than you

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Concert tickets are a horrible Christmas gift. The concert is a year away. They’re expensive, so the gift receiver is bound to feel guilty. You gave me a pair of tickets, are you implying that I have to take you? Cause now I’m thinking you like this singer more than I do. How can a gift giver make this even more awkward? How about tickets to a concert headlined by….

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Uncategorized
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