Estate Planning

A colleague of mine previously blogged about the importance of taking care of business so that you don’t leave a mess for your family and the courts, using the late famous musician, Prince, as an example for failing to plan for death. Since Prince’s passing in April 2016, no will has surfaced and the legal issues have continued to emerge, the latest, among them, being the interplay between probate and….

I was recently asked how RESPs effect the calculation of a spouse’s net family property (“NFP”) for purposes of Ontario’s Family Law Act. Because a RESP is considered the property of the subscriber, and not a trust, it generally forms part of the subscriber’s estate on his or her death. As a result, this question is relevant not only on marriage breakdown but also when a spouse elects to receive….