All About Estates

Month: September 2015

Total 21 Posts

Huguette Clark’s estate – its not over.

Notwithstanding the prestige of owning a Bentley, they are not enjoyable cars.

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Assessing a Lawyer’s Accounts

The issue before the Court of Appeal was whether clients, have represented to a court for the purpose of fixing the costs of an injunction application that the accounts rendered by its former solicitors were reasonable, can later apply to another court for an order permitting assessment (i.e. a formal review) of those accounts.

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RRSP transfers after death

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently weighed in on the eligibility for a tax-free transfer of registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) to a beneficiary after the death of the annuitant.

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WARM AIR IS NOT A MEDICAL SERVICE

A recent decision from the Federal Court of Appeal contains sad news for snowbirds and those who struggle with long, Canadian Winters. In Canada v. Tallon, the Federal Court of Appeal was tasked with determining whether travel to warmer climates could under appropriate conditions be considered a medical service. The taxpayer sought to deduct expenses related to such travel as medical expenses for the purposes of the medical expense tax credit as defined in subsection 118.2(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

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The Older Claimant

The Ontario Accident Benefit schedule will be reduced as of June 1, 2016 and claimants who are older than 65 will be negatively impacted.

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Entitlement to apply for a passing of accounts

Not all parties involved in estate administration are entitled to apply for a passing of accounts. Section 42(4) of the Substitute Decisions Act (SDA) lists all the people who may apply. While the list does not include estate trustees or beneficiaries of an estate, it does allow the court discretion…

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Millions of Wills now online at Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com Inc. (“Ancestry”), based in Utah, is the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world. In addition, subsidiaries operate in many European countries and also in Australia and Canada. A great many public records are made available through Ancestry, including: birth, death and marriage; census and voter lists; and military….

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Executor Compensation – The Last Chapter

Today’s Blog was Written by Jacob Kaufman The Divisional Court has just written another chapter in the ongoing saga of a dispute between two sisters, Erna and Hilda, who have been in litigation against each other since 2003. Erna had acted as attorney for property of her parents since 2002…

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RESIDENCY OF A TRUST – A QUESTION OF MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL

As my fellow bloggers have explained in some detail, there are various tenets governing trusts having legal and tax implications depending on the circumstances. One of these is the location of “central management and control” which the Courts have previously ruled as being the basis for determining residency. Recently, the…

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TRUSTEE DISCRETION PART I

In my last blog of August 14, 2015 I referred to the discretionary family trust as being one of the key tools in the estate planner’s toolbox. I made this statement given the flexible nature of this tool. I also, however, noted that it is often the case that little time is spent with the creator of the trust to detail their intent as to the circumstances for when the trustee is to make a distribution to a beneficiary.

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