Spouse | All About Estates

Estate Freezes and a Spouse’s ILA

Tamar Silverbrook • January 2, 2026 • 0 Comments

Estate freezes can raise important questions—like whether the freezor’s spouse should seek independent legal advice (“ILA”). This blog unpacks why that recommendation matters. Estate Freeze Consider the following estate freeze, which intentionally is explained in a “bare bones” manner. A spouse (“Freezor”) is exchanging their common shares in a Canadian controlled private corporation (“Family Corp.”) for fixed value preference shares. A new discretionary family trust is settled for the benefit….

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Interest, Separation, Spouse, Succession Planning, Trustee, Trusts

Does the Presumption of Advancement Apply to Joint Bank Accounts with a Common-Law Spouse?

Tamar Silverbrook • October 17, 2025 • 1 Comment

The addition of a common-law partner as a joint owner of a bank account with a right of survivorship may give rise to initial uncertainty as to whether the arrangement constitutes a gift. While such a designation may appear to be a gratuitous transfer, the presumption of advancement does not apply to a common law spouse added onto a joint account, even if there is a right of survivorship. If….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Spouse, Wills

Young, Married, and Prepared: A First Experience with Wills and POAs

Betty Laidlaw • October 10, 2025 • 1 Comment

As we head into Thanksgiving weekend, I am sharing a guest post written by my son. Earlier this year, he and his partner celebrated a beautiful wedding surrounded by family and friends. Like many life milestones, it prompted some important conversations about their future together, including what would happen if something unexpected occurred. In this post, he shares his experience with estate planning as a newlywed, and the process of….

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Estate Planning, Power of Attorney, Spouse, Wills

Spousal Trusts Without the Trust Issues: Picking the Right Trustee – A Primer and Reminder

Gowling WLG LLP • October 6, 2025 • 0 Comments

Brianna Fable-Watson, Articling Student, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP When planning your estate, creating a spousal trust is an effective way to ensure that your spouse is financially supported while also protecting the inheritance for your children or other beneficiaries. In a typical spousal trust, your surviving spouse receives the income produced from your assets during their lifetime, while the capital is (potentially) preserved for the next generation after they pass…..

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, Spouse, Trustee, Trustee Disputes

Marriage Contracts: Process Over (okay, at least equal to) Substance

Fasken • July 18, 2025 • 0 Comments

This blog has been written by Darren Lund, Partner at Fasken LLP. In several of my previous blogs, I have written about marriage contracts, and why they are an important element of estate planning. From a substantive perspective, there are many reasons why these agreements are relevant and may be needed to support a comprehensive estate plan.[1] If a family business owner has implemented an estate freeze that includes….

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Estate Planning, Spouse

We Have a Joint Ownership Problem

Fasken • June 20, 2025 • 1 Comment

This blog has been written by Rahul Sharma, Partner, at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Toronto Joint ownership of property with a right of survivorship is perhaps the most common or popular means by which a couple, for example, owns a home in Ontario. Simply put, “joint with right of survivorship” means that when one of the two joint owners dies, the other becomes the owner of the property. The succession….

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Estate Planning, Property, Spouse, Succession Planning, Tax Issues