family law act

The Benefits and Limitations of “Family Law Clauses”

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This week’s blog has been written by Darren Lund Estate planning and family law intersect in numerous ways. One of the most obvious intersections between these two areas of law is the so-called “family law clause” that appears in Ontario wills, deeds of gift, and inter vivos trusts. Although the clause is ubiquitous, it is one that is easily misunderstood by lay readers of wills, deeds of gift, and trusts…..

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Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills

Newlands Revisited: Moving to the Appeal

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This blog has been written by Darren Lund, Partner at Fasken LLP In a previous blog, I wrote about the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in Lang-Newlands v Newlands, 2024 ONSC 6285. To briefly summarize, the Newlands case considered a number of issues, but the key issue of interest for estate planners is the court’s analysis of an “estate freeze” transaction that occurred during the parties’ marriage. Barbara and….

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Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Separation, Succession Planning, Trusts, Uncategorized

NEWLANDS: A NEW INTERPRETATION OF ESTATE FREEZES IN THE FAMILY COURTS?

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This blog has been written by Darren Lund, Partner at Fasken LLP In Lang-Newlands v. Newlands, 2024 ONSC 6285, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice revisited the treatment of a discretionary family trust in the context of the equalization of net family property under the Ontario Family Law Act. Barbara Lang-Newlands (“Barb”) and Ian Newlands (“Ian”) were married on August 21, 1987 and separated on July 31, 2019. There were….

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Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Separation, Succession Planning, Trusts

Valuation of Interests in Discretionary trusts and Family Law

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These days, it is quite common to find intergenerational wealth transfer to consist of property held in a discretionary family trust whose beneficiaries may or may not have been in marital relationships at the time of the time the trusts were created. A siginifcant number of legal and financials issues related to these trusts in family law, including the determination of what is considered “included” and “excluded” family property before….

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Business Succession Planning, Contracts, Courts, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Investments, Property, Real Estate, Resulting Trust, Separation, Small Business, Spouse, Trusts, valuation

What if… the Kardashian Deathbed Marriage Took Place under Ontario Law?

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A Thought Experiment Recently, I had the opportunity to co-author a paper on deathbed retainers with Justin de Vries. In drafting this paper, I had the occasion to think about deathbed wills from every conceivable angle. The idea for this blog started as footnote 81: a hypothetical thought experiment on the legal interaction between a deathbed marriage and a deathbed will. Case law on deathbed retainers and wills stand at….

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Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Interest, Uncategorized

Are Domestic Contracts Becoming More Popular?

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When I explain to people whom I’m meeting for the first time that I’m a lawyer and that among my areas of practice I draft domestic contracts, I’m often met with a response to the effect of “You mean, like, a pre-nup?” I can confirm that a “pre-nup” is, in fact, what I mean. In Ontario, they’re called domestic contracts, and they can take one of two forms: marriage contracts,….

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Contracts, Dependant Support, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Separation, Spouse
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