All About Estates

But WHY??

It can be frustrating when, at the end of lengthy, hard fought litigation with an even longer record a court hands down a short decision less than a page long. The parties will scrutinize the decision, reading each line of the judge’s reasons over and over again. After repeating this…

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Cross-Border Charitable Donation & U.S. Donor

Philanthropy can strengthen one’s estate plan. In Canada, an estate plan may integrate charitable donations to leave a legacy to our community while taking advantage of the associated tax benefits. Such strategy can be implemented during the donor’s lifetime or upon the donor’s death. If the donor is a U.S….

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Prime Day Smart Moves: Helping Clients Navigate the July 8–11 Tech Splurge

This blog post was written by Dave Madan, Senior Manager, Scotiatrust Amazon Prime Day is here—and it’s a siren song of “unmissable deals” on everything from smartphones and tablets to noise‑cancelling headphones and smart doorbells. But as professionals know, a shiny new gadget can bring hidden headaches: data breaches, estate‑planning…

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What Stuff?

This blog post was written by: Patricia Chartrand, Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotiatrust Vancouver Scandinavian death cleaning is the act of purging the superfluous and keeping the necessary in anticipation of your passing. The result is leaving the smallest physical footprint upon passing. It takes much less effort for your…

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Contract Law in Estate and Guardianship Litigation

In estate or guardianship litigation, disputes may arise in respect of contracts purportedly made by an individual before his or her death or by an attorney for property on behalf of the grantor. While it is trite that such agreements may be set aside on the basis of incapacity or…

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Ontario Estate Information Return Essentials

  The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario recently hosted an education session on Ontario’s Estate Administration Tax (“EAT”) and the Estate Information Return (“EIR”), presented by a representative of the Ontario Ministry of Finance (“MOF”). I was particularly interested in this session as I wrote about the new online…

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