Estate Planning

Total 1065 Posts

Walters v. Walters: Limits to “Absolute Discretion” and Judicial Intervention by: Yvonne Mazurak

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A recent Court of Appeal decision, Walters v Walters, 2022 ONCA 38, addresses a trustee’s requirement to give effect to a testator or settlor’s intentions when exercising discretion with respect to distributions from a discretionary trust. At issue was whether the trustees had improperly relied on extraneous or irrelevant factors when exercising such discretion. The decision, written by Justice Sarah Pepall for the Court, is a helpful read as it….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Family Conflict, Wills

Has a Contingent Beneficiary Asked for an Accounting?

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An estate trustee does not have an obligation to provide a contingent beneficiary with an accounting; nonetheless, some form of accounting is generally done at the request of a contingent beneficiary. If accounts are not provided, a contingent beneficiary may bring an application to compel an estate trustee to pass their accounts. This will be costly and may be what the contingent beneficiary is trying to avoid in requesting a….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Passing Of Trustees’ and Executors’ Accounts, Wills

Codicils within Multiple Wills and the Complexity Between Them

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Today’s blog was written by Najib Painda, Wills & Estates Law Clerk at Fasken LLP   As you may know, the purpose of a Codicil is to effect minor changes within an existing Estate plan without the need to create a whole new Will. In today’s age of technology, where new documents can be produced with relative ease, Codicils are becoming less common. When a client is looking to make….

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Estate Planning, Wills

How’s it going … with the new probate forms?

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It has been two months since the new process and forms for obtaining a Certificate of Appointment (probate grant) came into effect at the beginning of the year under Ontario Regulation 709/21.  As my colleague, Sandra Arsenault, wrote in her blog “The new amendments, which come into effect as of January 1, 2022, drastically alter the probate procedure by eliminating 43 existing forms, introducing 8 new consolidated forms and amending….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, Wills

“To give or not to Give?” is only the first part of the question – as important is “How”?

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Charitable giving is often an important goal of a client’s planning.  As the title of this blog suggests, there are many ways to achieve this objective. What follows is a general overview of on of the options available for charitable giving- namely the establishment of a private foundation- and addresses some of the practical implications of same. Purposes and Categories A private foundation usually operates as a funder, i.e., it….

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Charitable Giving, Estate Planning

Preferred shares – Liability or equity?

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There has been significant debate over the years regarding the financial statement presentation of redeemable or mandatorily retractable shares (RoMRS) as either a liability or equity. First, a bit of background When Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE) were issued in 2011, it was determined that RoMRS should continue to be recorded at par, stated or assigned value in a separate component of equity.  An amendment to ASPE reporting of….

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Estate Planning
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