Family Conflict

Total 254 Posts

Taming the Cottage Gremlins with a Non-Profit Organization

This Blog was written by Carol Willes, One of our family’s favourite pastimes at the cottage is to build a roaring campfire and spend the evenings telling stories, singing along to guitar tunes and roasting the occasional marshmallow. Every so often, however, some unwelcome visitors show up and crash our campfire bliss. This generally happens when the fireside conversation turns to the future of the cottage once mom and dad….

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Cottage, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Succession Planning, Uncategorized, Wills

Death, Loss and Hope For Another Year

While the New Year starts in January, Jews around the world celebrate another New Year, the birth of the universe, 5778 years ago based on the Hebrew calendar. While it is the first of the High Holidays, for many who may not attend synagogue, it may still be recognized and celebrated with family sitting down together for a festive dinner. When there has been a death of a loved one….

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Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

The Endowment Effect

[caption id="attachment_5640" align="aligncenter" width="463"] St Miguel and the Dragon, 14th Century, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain[/caption] People value objects more when they own or possess them – or at least when they presume ownership.   In cognitive psychology this phenomenon is called the “endowment effect”.    It’s a concept that was seemingly invented to describe a lot of behaviour related to estates, philanthropy and foundations.   It’s time to give it….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

GIFTS – Some Additional Thougths

Recently, I wrote about the gifting of cash or assets during one’s lifetime as an alternative method of distributing your wealth (beyond what you need to live on comfortably) and possibly avoid taxes (probate, income etc.) at time of death. I suggested that your heirs could use the funds in a manner that will likely cost less tax: For example pay down some personal debt, apply it as a deposit….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Charitable Giving, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Investments, Joint Tenancy, Loans, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Probate Tax, Property, Real Estate, Tax Issues, Trusts, Uncategorized

My Best Interests, and Yours Too?

The recent case of Tarantino v. Galvano, 2017 ONSC 3535, raises a variety of issues familiar to estate litigators – powers of attorney, capacity, quantum meruit claims, the duty to account and the rules surrounding the removal of an estate’s executor. In this case the deceased, Rosa Filippo Galvano (“Rosa”) had two daughters, Nellie Galvano (“Nellie”) and Giuseppina Bucci (“Giuseppina”), who died in 2007. Giuseppina had two daughters, Rosa Pignatelli and….

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Attorney Compensation, Capacity Law, Caregiving, Compensation, Contracts, Elder Care, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Passing Of Trustees’ and Executors’ Accounts, POA Compensation, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Wills

The New Surrogacy Rules in the Children’s Law Reform Act

The new parentage rules in the All Families Are Equal Act (Parentage and Related Registrations Statute Law Amendment), 2016, S.O. 2016, c. 23 (“Act”), include rules for determining parentage where surrogacy is used. The surrogacy rules became effective on January 1, 2017 and are largely set out in sections 10 and 11 of the Children’s Law Reform Act (“CLRA”) as amended by the Act. For purposes of the rules, a….

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Family Conflict
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