All About Estates

Ontario Residents with Quebec assets

Today’s blog was written by Douglas Buchmayer, partner with the Ottawa office of Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP A common issue facing estate planning practitioners in Eastern Ontario is the Ontario resident client owning Quebec assets, often the family cottage, which need to be dealt with in a Will. Where a…

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Administering an Estate: A Marathon of Responsibilities

We had a Zoom call with our adult children a few weekends ago. We talked about our son’s engagement, as our daughter hadn’t yet heard the details of how he had proposed. We also talked about our daughter’s recent 5K run at the Toronto Zoo and how it compared to…

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Activating Powers of Attorney for Property in Ontario.

I happened to be on my google machine earlier today, doing a quick search of “activation of powers of attorney”. I found a rather upsetting website belonging to a member of the bar suggesting that a power of attorney ought to be activated “if the grantor dies”, and so here…

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Common Law Spouse Brings an Unjust Enrichment Claim

In Lynk v Bennett Estate, a common law spouse brought an unjust enrichment claim against her late partner’s estate The Deceased, Mr. Bennett, had separated from his wife, Mrs. Bennett in 2004 but never divorced.  He entered into a common law relationship with Ms. Lynk.  They resided together for 15…

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U.K. Inheritance Tax – It Could Apply

Are you a U.K. citizen?  A simple question that may trigger many additional questions from the estate advisor if the answer is, yes. Why? Canada and the U.K.  impose income tax obligations on the basis of a taxpayer’s residency.  However, the current U.K. Inheritance Tax (IHT) applies to the much…

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Plan Well to Relocate an Older Person Across the Country – Part 2

Well before deciding to relocate an older person across the country, carefully consider the pros and cons. It can be far more disruptive, stressful, and costly than you might think. A well-thought-out plan created a year or more ahead of the move can decrease negative impacts and increase the chance…

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Canadian State Funerals, a deep dive

My dog and I have a habit of visiting our neighbours at least once a week. After Final Jeopardy, maybe on a Tuesday or Wednesday, I ask George if she wants to go visiting, and my little cockapoo loses her little dog mind, races to the door, and charges down…

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Chat, j’ai pété (and left a stink)

Since the widespread launch of cheap, accessible, generative AI platforms like Open AI’s ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Google Bard, Cohere Coral, etc. we’ve all read the news articles and blog posts written using AI to show off the possibilities these new tools present. In the legal industry, there’s buzz around the…

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PROCEED CAREFULLY – FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES

Kira Domratchev, Associate Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP I recently came across an interesting decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice where the Court used the doctrine of a resulting trust to reach an outcome on a series of events that left a creditor unable to collect an outstanding costs…

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Will Challenges and Limitation Periods: Court of Appeal Weighs In

The question of whether will challenges fall under the standard two-year limitation period has long been a topic of consideration in lower courts[1]. Does the limitation clock start ticking at the date of death, upon discovering the existence of another will, or when there is knowledge of both the existence and content of another will? The Court of Appeal has finally spoken on the issue … well, sort of.

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