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Artist Foundations

[caption id="attachment_6702" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Tom Thomson’s The Pointers, 1916-17 (Hart House, University of Toronto) – See Thomson’s catalogue raisonne at http://tomthomsoncatalogue.org/[/caption] In the U.S. there is a generation of contemporary artists who have never been richer and they are endowing – with art and money – some significant foundations. Cy Twombly Foundation, for example, reportedly has assets of over $1.5 billion. There is even a support initiative called the Artist-Endowed Foundation….

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

My Summer Vacation

One of my favorite routines on my annual summer vacation is to read the local news. Regular readers of this Blog may not be surprised that the story which caught my eye this summer was about an Estate.   Richard M. Grant, a life-long farmer, known as the “The Corn King” and “The Bean Baron of Maine”, passed away in February 2017. According to the Portland Press Herald (“the Herald”), Grant’s….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, In the News, Uncategorized

Estate Planning and Family Law: The Matrimonial Home Part I

A marriage contract is often an important component of an integrated estate plan. Frequently the discussion arises when the children of the first or second generation in a successful family business begin to marry, particularly where those children are beneficiaries of a discretionary family trust that holds common shares in the family business. The generation(s) that built the family wealth understandably wish to protect it from claims by the spouses….

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What the Law Takes Away, the Law can just as Easily Give Back

I previously blogged about the importance of making a will to ensure that your testamentary wishes are carried through.  Eissmann v Kuntz is a recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision illustrating the unintended consequences of improper estate planning. Background Siegfried Kunz was born in Germany in 1937.  He married his ex-wife in 1961.  They had one daughter together, Petra, in 1962.  Siegfried and his ex-wife divorced in 1967 and,….

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Life Insurance and Contingent Ownership

Ownership of assets into ‘joint tenancy with right of survivorship” is a mechanism of ownership transfer commonly used for estate planning to address such issues as probate fee and tax avoidance. Recently, this blog site very capably addressed the issues surrounding “joint tenancy” of life insurance in particular (“Life Insurance Joint Tenants” by Corina Weigl May 4, 2018), said issues to include partial loss of ownership and control over the….

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Estate Planning, Insurance, Investments, Joint Tenancy, Probate Tax, Property, Tax Issues, Uncategorized

When a Modern Relationship and the Traditional Family Clash: a Lesson for Estate Planners

Guest written by Jessica Nolan, student-at-law at Fasken. A recent case out of British Columbia offers a number of lessons for estate planning. Robledano v. Jacinto (2018 BCSC 152) involved the estate of Barbara Jacinto who died unexpectedly. Barbara had been in a relationship with Maria Robledano on and off for just over 30 years. In the final years before Barbara’s death, they were primarily living under separate roofs but….

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