By now many are familiar with the story reported in the National Post on March 2, 2017 by Ashley Csanady and the subsequent public outrage and calls for appeal in the Nova Scotia acquittal of a case of alleged sexual assault of a young woman intoxicated in the back of a taxi. For those unfamiliar with the story, a police officer had found the female complainant naked from the breasts….
Can a Drunk Clearly Consent? Continue Reading »
Capacity Law, In the NewsAssume Mr. X died in early 2016. Mr. X’s estate appears to meet all of the requirements to be a graduated rate estate (“GRE”), except the 1st return has not been filed as yet to formally designate it a GRE. The estate made a charitable donation in early 2017; at the time of the donation, the estate had not met all the requirements of the GRE definition in the Income….
Caring for our loved ones while satisfying and fulfilling can be expensive both emotionally and financially. Understanding needs, costs and tax relief are all important to saving money. Today’s blog provides some caring highlights from the 2017 Federal Budget. Three current tax credits have been replaced with the proposed Canada Caregiver Credit. This non refundable credit applies to caregivers whether or not they live with their family member, and help….
How This Budget Cares Continue Reading »
Canada Revenue Agency, Caregiving, Dependant Support, Disability, In the News, Tax Issues
Today’s blog was written by Jenna Ward, Articling Student, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. When clients plan engagement parties, weddings, baby showers or divorce parties (yes, divorce parties are becoming increasingly common) they may not think to invite their estate lawyer. Understandable. However, the unfortunate result may be that such life events impact estate planning in an undesirable way or even revoke estate plans completely. We recently encountered such a situation….
Estate Lawyers: Did our Invitation Get Lost in the Mail?! Continue Reading »
Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Wills
This Blog was written by Robert Boyd Absurd as the title may suggest, this is a possibility. The technology now exists for a robot to tweet, send and reply to text messages and post on social media profiles after a person’s death. The Artificial Intelligence(AI) will mimic the deceased’s personality and recreate communications in the same style as they would while they were alive, even taking on their sense of….
Who wants to live forever……………through a digital bot version of themselves? Continue Reading »
Estate Administration, In the News, Uncategorized
Does an estate trustee have to apply for probate in order to represent the estate before an administrative tribunal? Two administrative tribunals – the Workplace Safety Insurance Appeal Tribunal and the Humans Rights Tribunal have taken different positions. An estate trustee does not always require probate (the formal term is a certificate of appointment of estate trustee with a will). There are many good reasons for an estate trustee to….
Is Probate Required To Appear Before Tribunals? Continue Reading »
Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Executors, Wills