All About Estates

Category: In the News

Total 254 Posts

BILL C-62 – Delays the inclusion of mental illness from MAID eligibility

Everyone knows the tragic Shakespeare tale of how Juliet awakens from her “death” to discover that her love Romeo had taken his life, believing that Juliet had really died.  Juliet, in her own state of sorrow, stabs herself with a dagger and is joined forever with her love Romeo. This…

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Mental Health is Health: 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline Goes Live

This past week, Canada took another step forward to address fundamental changes in access to services for mental health. The 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline went live to provide immediate contact and support services for those in a mental health crisis. Calling or texting 988 gives anyone free twenty-four access to…

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Will We Need to Start Remembering the “Right to be Forgotten”?

Pictured: Some myosotis flowers; colloquially known as “forget-me-nots”. I thought these would be appropriate for this blog post. In the estate planning world, we often see clients who want to be remembered for generations to come. For example, this could be through establishing a charitable gift, trust or foundation in…

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Thinking about family

Given the horrific tragedy that occurred last week in Israel, I will not be posting a blog this morning. This week reaffirmed for me the reality that what impacts your loved ones also impacts you.

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Charitable Bequests in Wills

This blog was written by Courtney Lanthier, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP.   We often hear in the news of beloved celebrities passing away after years of lucrative careers. It’s also common to speculate as to how their estate will be distributed. Many celebrities have either left, or plan to…

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Questioning the Actions of Trustees

This Blog was written by: Alicia Mossington (Godin), Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotia Wealth Management    What happens if a beneficiary believes that a trustee is acting improperly, or refuses to distribute funds? United States Senator Dianne Feinstein is suing the trustees of a fund set up by her late husband,…

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When Estates Law Meets Criminal Law: A Recent Case of a Fraudulent Will

Estates law doesn’t typically make the news, so my attention is always piqued when I see a headline about a Will. A recent criminal case featuring a fraudulent Will made front-page news, and serves as a reminder of what a powerful document a Will is, the need to carefully plan…

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Gone. Now what?

Under the Declaration of Death Act, the court will make the order declaring that an individual has died if the individual disappeared in circumstances of peril or the individual has been absent for seven years.

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Frontotemporal Dementia

While we all may be aware of the dementia crisis that is increasingly heading our way, it often takes a celebrity to truly raise the issue and increase our general awareness levels. I am referring to FTD or frontotemporal dementia and Bruce Willis’ recent diagnosis. Dementia is a syndrome describing…

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Royalty and World-Wide Assets

This Blog was written by: Alicia Mossington (Godin), Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotia Wealth Management  The British royal family has been in the news frequently over the past 18 months: from the deaths of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II to the crowning of King Charles and the release of Prince…

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