The Globe and Mail’s ‘Public Editor’, Ms. Sylvia Stead, wrote a piece in the July 26, 2014 Saturday paper called ‘When capturing a life in a few hundred words, try to avoid mistakes’. Good advice. I have been reading obits for the last few decades and I would say they…

Many people believe that a Power of Attorney for Personal Care is the proper tool in which to express their intention to donate organs.  Is this correct?  If so, does this mean that an attorney for personal care may be granted the authority to make decisions regarding the grantor’s organ…

In 21 x 3, I wrote about three, sometimes tricky, trust rules:  the 21-year deemed dispositon rule; the rule against accumulations; and, the rule against perpetuities.  Following the post, I realized I had not been specific enough when a reader – esteemed charitable foundation advisor and former colleague, David Windeyer –…

Recently the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) was asked whether income allocated by a communal organization and reported as self employment earnings for CPP eligibility on a trust income tax slip (T3 slip) is considered “working” income for the recipient to claim the Working Income Tax Benefit (“WITB”). CRA responded that…

This will be my last blog for ‘All About Estates’ as I have made the decision to return to my home province of British Columbia and I will be moving from Toronto to Vancouver in August. I have very much enjoyed being part of this blog – I think that…

I met with a lovely couple last week. They are both in the 80’s and have been living in their two-story home for the last 50 plus years. He has Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and has fallen several times. Luckily to date, he has not broken any bones or injured himself…

A blind trust is a trust in which a settlor (who would also be the contingent beneficiary) reserves the right to terminate the trust but agrees to relinquish all other control over the trust i.e. administered and managed by others without updates, advice, instruction, or account to the settlor. Whether…