Registered Education Savings Plans: Back to Basics

Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) are tax-deferred education savings vehicles designed to assist parents (or other family members and friends) to save towards a beneficiary’s post-secondary education.  A contract is entered into between a subscriber (i.e., parents) and a promoter (i.e., bank or trust company), whereby the subscriber contributes funds for one or more beneficiaries, and the promoter manages and invests the contributions. There are specific requirements under the Income….

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Fiduciary Investing Series – Don’t REIT around the bush

This blog has been written by Robert Boyd, Director, Scotiatrust Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs as they are commonly referred to, are companies that own real estate which generate an income. They can be a useful investment vehicle as they are often well diversified and can allow an individual to invest in the real estate market without purchasing a property, while avoiding the ongoing maintenance that comes with outsight….

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Death of a Beneficiary – Alter Ego and Joint Spousal Trusts

At a recent tax conference, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) shared its view on reporting a post-mortem loss incurred by a trust in the first year following the death of the last life interest beneficiary (the settlor in the case of an alter ego trust, and the last to die of the spouses in the case of a joint spousal trust. Both an alter ego trust and a joint spousal….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Executors, Tax Issues

Until Death Do Us Part- or until we need provincially funded care in a LTC

Welcome to 2020!  Truly hard to believe that we are in a new decade. Time seems to have flown by.  As I sat down to write this blog, I wanted to start the new year with some good news.  I thought I would update readers about the long awaited spousal unification program.   In fact I blogged about this very topic in January 2017 with the following story: ‘After 70 years….

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Caregiving, Elder Care

Intestacy Reform Overdue in Ontario?

Saskatchewan recently amended its intestacy rules through the enactment of The Intestate Succession Act, 2019 (the “Act”), replacing the former 1996 statute. “Intestacy rules” are the rules that govern the division of a deceased person’s estate if the person dies without a will, or a portion of an estate if a person dies with a will but the will does not dispose of the entire estate.[1] The Act differs in….

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