Philanthropy

Robert and Signe McMichael’s Complicated Legacy

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[caption id="attachment_5842" align="aligncenter" width="477"] Robert and Signe McMichael signing Gift Agreement with Ontario Premier John Robarts .18 November 1965. Credit CBC[/caption] Robert and Signe McMichael, the namesake of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, were savvy art collectors who made some painful philanthropic and estate planning mistakes.  Visionary Collectors     Starting in 1955, when they were in their early 30s, they started buying landscape paintings by the Group of Seven….

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Estate Administration, Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

GIFTS – Some Additional Thougths

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Recently, I wrote about the gifting of cash or assets during one’s lifetime as an alternative method of distributing your wealth (beyond what you need to live on comfortably) and possibly avoid taxes (probate, income etc.) at time of death. I suggested that your heirs could use the funds in a manner that will likely cost less tax: For example pay down some personal debt, apply it as a deposit….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Charitable Giving, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Investments, Joint Tenancy, Loans, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Probate Tax, Property, Real Estate, Tax Issues, Trusts, Uncategorized

CHARITABLE GIFTS AND GRADUATED RATE ESTATE DESIGNATIONS: CAN YOU GIFT BEFORE YOU DESIGNATE

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Assume 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….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Charitable Giving, Estate Administration, Estate Donations, Estate Planning, In the News, Property, Tax Issues, Uncategorized

INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS AND CHARITABLE GIVING AND THE NEW PERSONAL TAX RATES

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If you are like most individuals at this time of the year, you probably don’t give too much thought to your taxes and perhaps putting it off until the filing deadline for tax returns approaches being in the spring of each year for most. For those who are beneficiaries of a trust for instance and expect to receive income distributions, or in a separate context, those who are developing a….

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Charitable Giving, Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, Investments, Property, Succession Planning, Tax Issues, Trustee Compensation

Donations of Existing Life Insurance Policies

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In 2008, Canada Revenue Agency changed the valuation rules for donations of existing life insurance policies to registered charities. Previously, policy donations were receipted for cash surrender value, which many policies don’t contain. Now, policy donations are receipted for the appraised fair market value (FMV), which may exist regardless of the existence of cash or equity in the policy. What have we learned about these gifts so far? 1. Supply….

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Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

Charitable donations made through a will

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In many cases, a deceased person will include charitable bequests in their will. The executor(s) of the estate may not, however, be in a position to honour the bequest in a timely fashion due to the lack of available estate funds on hand. In not all cases will this action (or inaction) frustrate the completion of the final personal tax return…..

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Canada Revenue Agency, Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Trustee, Wills
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