Estate Planning

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Estate Planning for Pets

Today’s blog was written by K. Thomas Grozinger, LL.B, C.S., TEP[1] Principal Trust Specialist, Professional Practice Group RBC Estate & Trust Services Will the holiday season bring a new pet into the family scene? Pets are often considered part of the family, with one survey suggesting that almost 20% of dog owners celebrate their pet’s birthday![2] So it’s no surprise that Canadians want to make sure that their pets are….

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Estate Planning, In the News, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Trusts, Wills

Capital Gains Exemption Purification before a Share Sale: Be Careful about Timing

Assume a family trust (“Trust”) which has a December year end owns 100% of an operating company (“opco”). A separate corporation (“holdco”), owned by the founders of opco, is a corporate beneficiary of the Trust. Opco is up for sale. Opco has excess funds which may affect the Trust’s and its beneficiaries’ ability to claim the capital gains exemption. A common technique to purify opco for capital gains exemption purposes….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, Investments, Property, Small Business, Succession Planning, Tax Issues, Trusts

Dead People Who Make More Money Than You

Imagine this – You’re front row center in your red leather jacket. The King of Pop is thrilling the crowd. He moonwalks so close to your seat that you can touch him. But you can’t. It’s a Michael Jackson hologram. You spent half your paycheck to watch a hologram perform. This is why my post today is all about dead celebrities that made wayyyy more money than you last year…..

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, In the News, Wills

Common Pitfalls in Estate Planning for Blended Families

Common Pitfalls in Estate Planning for Blended Families[1] The traditional concept of the nuclear family (i.e., mother, father and one or more children of a single relationship) has evolved over the years. The modern family is more complicated and may consist of parents who are in second or third relationships and who bring into a relationship  children from one or more prior relationships.  To further complicate the familial structure, there….

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Estate Planning, Wills

Art and Fair Market Value

[caption id="attachment_7127" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Sir Frederick Grant Banting, 1891 – 1941, The Lab[/caption] Fall art auction week in Toronto is just past. The biggest is run by Heffel Fine Art Auction. The results for the two Heffel auctions illustrate the challenge of determining fair market value in art. The auction catalogue listed a number of estates and charitable foundation as consignors. Clearly art valuation issues affect estate planning. Heffel offered 135….

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Estate Administration, Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Uncategorized

Milne Estate (Re)visited

Today’s blog was co-authored by Joanna Lindenberg and Ronald Neal The decision of Milne Estate (Re) (“Milne”) caused a stir among the members of the estates bar and solicitors who draft wills, going so far as to illicit an alert from LawPRO. While the Milne decision (which is under appeal) has garnered a great deal of attention and commentary from lawyers (including Justin de Vries’ blog, which you can read….

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Contested wills, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Planning, Executors, In the News, Succession Planning, Trusts, Wills
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