All About Estates

Month: October 2015

Total 20 Posts

Gifting and Incapacity – A Cautionary Tale

Parents are living longer and gifting money to their children before they die or by way of a last minute will. Distrust and disbelieve inevitably arise. The courts are called upon more and more to settle family disputes with all of the attendant rancor and costs. The case of Foley v. McIntyre helps sorts out some of the legal issues.

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Graduated Rate Estates: Does the 36 month rule mean a maximum of 3 taxation years?

As my fellow bloggers have written, there are now 3 types of testamentary trusts under our tax law: a Graduated Rate Estate (“GRE”), a Qualified Disability Trust (“QDT”) and all other testamentary trusts (“OTT”). Previously, all testamentary trusts were generally taxed in the same way individuals were – at graduated…

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OWNERSHIP OF FOREIGN PROPERTY

The Huffington Post reports that over a third of foreign buyers of real estate in Florida are Canadians. Another article reports that Canadians are the leading buyers of US real estate. In earlier blogs I’ve talked about the specter of US estate taxes that arises when a Canadian dies owning US situs property, like real estate. Besides this complexity, the ownership of foreign property raises the potential for challenges in the administration of an estate. As a result, when developing an estate plan that includes foreign real estate it is important to consider a number of issues, some of which are…

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Finding the balance…….

Finding balance: While acknowledging the paid care is financially expensive and family provided care is emotionally expensive, it also has an impact on our ability to maintain our career path and can have financial implications. How does all of this get juggled?

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Nobel Peace Prize’s Breach of Trust?

Norwegian lawyer Fredrik Heffermehl thinks the Nobel Foundation has blatantly ignored the intentions of Alfred Nobel for his namesake Peace Prize. Nobel’s will stipulated that the prize be awarded to the ”most worthy champions of peace”. Specifically it should go to “the person who shall have done the most or…

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Privacy Rights, Public Access and Sealing Orders

Litigants in estates proceedings are sometimes concerned that sensitive and private information – though relevant to the court proceedings – will be made publicly available once filed with the court. Litigants may wonder whether that information can be kept “under wraps”. Indeed, our courts retain the ability to prevent information…

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Testamentary Capacity and Lewy Body Dementia

Today’s blog was written by guest blogger Dr. Richard Shulman. Dr. Shulman is a Geriatric  Psychiatrist, and is the Service Medical Director for Seniors Mental Health Services at Trillium Health Partners (Mississauga Hospital, Credit Valley Hospital and Queensway Health Centre). He is available for independent medical-legal capacity assessments. He is an…

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Principal residence and co-ownership (continued)

In my last blog on this topic I shared with you the comments of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on an implied agreement between a couple regarding their ownership of a property. The CRA went on to comment on the tax implications of both an actual and a deemed sale.

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Today is Election Day – Don’t Forget to Vote!

As the CTV election coverage commercial proclaims, “Tonight, history will be made.” Today is election day! Don’t miss out on your chance to participate by casting a ballot.

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Financial Literacy, part 2

Today’s blog, while not about the Blue Jays winning the series (I was having a tough time finding the ‘estates’ connection), continues with the theme of Financial Literacy.

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