Estate Planning

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Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

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Can a suicide note be a valid holograph will? Maybe, and it depends upon where you live. The Ontario case of McGrath v. Joy, which decision was released at the end of 2020, dealt with whether a suicide note was a valid holograph will. My colleague, Rebecca Studin, recently blogged about the case, where it was found that the suicide note was not a valid holograph will. The judge commented,….

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Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Wills

Death, taxes and cryptocurrency

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Everyone knows that you can’t avoid the tax collector, and death is no exception.  Under the Canadian Income Tax Act, on the death of an individual subsection 70(5) will trigger a deemed disposition of all the deceased taxpayer’s capital property at fair market value thus taxing any accrued capital gains in the deceased’s final tax return.  There is an exception to this deemed disposition rule which will defer the taxation….

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Estate Planning, Executors, Tax Issues

New Privacy Legislation Aims to Address Digital Assets in Estate Administration

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Practitioners and clients alike have come to realize that there can be numerous legal challenges to administering a testator’s digital assets, including, among them, ambiguous or restrictive privacy legislation. For most Canadian provinces,[1] the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) does not appear to grant executors, trustees, or personal representatives any powers or capabilities with respect to the disclosure of a testator’s personal information. However, in November 2020,….

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Contracts, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, In the News, Power of Attorney, Property

Death Benefit Payments

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The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently released a translated technical interpretation with helpful guidance on the tax treatment of a death benefit payment in certain specific situations. A death benefit is income of either the estate or the beneficiary who receives it. Up to $10,000 of the total of all death benefits paid (other than CPP or QPP death benefits) is not taxable. The CRA had the following to say….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, Executors, Small Business, Tax Issues

Dude, Where’s My Car? – How to Transfer the Ownership of a Deceased Person’s Vehicle to a Beneficiary in Ontario

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More often than not, we come across the following question from an Executor: How do I transfer the ownership of the deceased’s vehicle where the deceased specifically named a beneficiary in the Will? This seems like a fairly simple process but as I’ve learned over time, nothing is as simple as it seems. This can be a time consuming and frustrating process for the Executor. Please note that for the….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, Wills

One in Ten: Why Bequest Donors Don’t Inform Charities

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One in ten.  That, according to charitable sector studies, is how many estate donors inform the charities in their will of their intentions.  While this ratio varies by charity it underscores a fascinating paradox.  Bequest donors trust charities enough to make them beneficiaries of their estate, but they don’t trust them enough to tell them in advance. The Paradox This paradox is frustrating for charities.  Charities spend a lot of….

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