Consolidate, for Efficiency’s Sake!

The 2014 Supreme Court decision, Hryniak v Mauldin, directly addressed the need to increase access to justice. In that case, the Supreme Court clarified and broadened a court’s fact-finding powers on summary judgment motions with the goal of providing litigants a faster procedure in appropriate cases. In the same spirit, there are other procedural tools available to streamline court proceedings and eliminate redundancy. In particular, Rule 6 of the Rules….

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Estate Litigation, Guardianship, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

Capacity Assessments and Biases to Beware of

Capacity assessments regarding capacity to manage property, testamentary capacity or capacity to appoint a power of attorney for property (POA), whether conducted contemporaneously or retrospectively, rely upon whatever materials/information that is provided to an assessor to review. Materials may include relevant medical records, previous wills and POA documents, interview of the person if done contemporaneously or videos and/or audio recordings of the deceased if retrospective, and affidavits within legal briefs…..

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Capacity Law, Elder Law, Estate Litigation, Guardianship, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Testamentary Capacity

Have You Been Scammed Lately?

Have you been called from someone saying they are from a particular computer company and they want to fix the virus in your software program? How about the caller who identifies themselves as your granddaughter’s friend who they had their wallet stolen, is stranded and needs your help? Or the fellow who rings your door bell saying that his car broke down and his pregnant wife needs to get to….

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Elder Care

Government Targets Tax Planning for Private Companies

July 18, 2017 was a relatively quiet day in my office. That is until I received a flurry of emails regarding a release by the Department of Finance.  In particular, the Department of Finance issued draft legislation which, if passed, will significantly change the nature of tax planning for Canadian private companies and their shareholders.  The proposed changes will impact both current structures that many Canadian private companies have in….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Succession Planning, Tax Issues

An XS-Cessive Inheritance

This Blog was written by: Natalie Rouse As some of you may have read in recent celebrity news such as the UK Mirror, the daughter of Michael Hutchence (a founding member and lead singer of rock band INXS) and Paula Yates (television personality), Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily (“Tiger”), is currently making headlines . She is set to inherit millions of pounds from her late father’s estate when she turns 21….

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Estate Planning, In the News, Interest, International, Uncategorized

The Principal Residence Exemption: Can you Divide and Conquer?

Recently, the Canada Revenue Agency (‘CRA”) was asked for its opinion on a fact situation with implications on the availability of the principal residence exemption for tax purposes, that I think also has applicability to estate planning in general and to some of the issues one can encounter when trying to divide interests in a property for estate planning purposes in particular. The CRA was provided with the following scenario…..

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Business Succession Planning, Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, In the News, Investments, Property, Real Estate, Small Business, Tax Issues, Trusts, Uncategorized
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