Estate Planning

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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

Source of Income and the TOSI Rules: Clarification?

Since the Tax on Split Income (“TOSI”) legislation was released, there has been considerable consternation amongst professionals as to how the rules apply. Even the most sophisticated readers of the legislation agree that it contains provisions that are both ambiguous and somewhat complicated. Somewhat out of exasperation, many deal with the TOSI rules on the assumption that all income amounts received by shareholders, beneficiaries, and partners are subject to TOSI,….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, In the News, Investments, Property, Real Estate, Small Business, Tax Issues, Trusts

Foundations with Donor Advised Funds

The current Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector seems to be quite interested in “donor advised funds” or DAFs. In particular, members of the Committee are suggesting that the Income Tax Act should be changed to require individual funds to have minimum disbursement quotas and separate regulatory reporting. This policy trial balloon is worth debating. If for no other reason than a lot of Canadians now have their philanthropic….

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Elder Law, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Safe Income and an Estate

In a recent technical interpretation, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) made the point that safe income of a corporation owned by a person that died did not flow through to the estate of that person.  The reason was not clearly stated but appears to be that the safe income became encompassed in the adjusted cost base of the shares to the estate. The situation described in the technical interpretation involved….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, Tax Issues
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