A recent case from the Ontario Court of Appeal (published in French) dealt with the principles to consider in evaluating an application to remove an executor due to a conflict of interest. The deceased in Talbot c. Bergeron, 2016 ONCA 956, had two children, a son and a daughter. The…
Month: April 2017
Total 18 Posts
In my consulting work, I have provided independent medical/legal assessments of seniors regarding capacity to sign powers of attorney, capacity to manage property and personal care, capacity to marry, capacity to provide instructions, capacity to provide evidence and both retrospective and contemporaneous assessments of testamentary capacity and capacity to provide…
An advance directive is a document setting out an individual’s wishes for future medical treatment, most often for treatment in the event of incapacity or unconsciousness. For example, individuals can outline their wishes with respect to withdrawing, withholding, or providing lifesaving treatment (such as feeding tubes or “Do Not Resuscitate”…
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked to consider a situation where spouses A and B jointly acquired foreign property for $150,000. A paid $75,000 in cash and gave $75,000 to his spouse to jointly buy the property. The question asked was how would the income and gains be shown…
In our busy day to day lives I have found that people will often use acronyms, assuming their listener/reader understands. This is not always the case. It is not only the younger generation that is using new terms (what exactly is a meme?), but those of us in the caregiving…
Dealing with the taxation of income earned by an estate can be complex. It has become even more complex since January 1, 2016. It was on this date that all estates, other than those that qualify as a “graduated rate estate” (GRE), were no longer able to benefit from graduated…
It is a truism that Canadians who donate enough to charity at death can eliminate tax. This outcome is due to the 100% contribution limit for gifts by will and direct designation gift of registered funds and life insurance. Since 2015, however, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Yukon have increased…
Some timing relief is granted to the deceased’s personal representative when a death occurs before the deceased has filed a tax return to report income received in the year. Generally speaking, the final return is due on or before the following dates: If the death occurred between January 1 and…
This past week we celebrated Passover and Easter. Major holidays recognized with a statutory holiday attached, at least for the latter. I wonder however about the observance of these holidays and whether this has waned over the years. For me and perhaps for many of you, these holy days have…
As people live longer their cash requirements can increase exponentially. My Blog colleague, Audrey Miller, recently told me that, in Ontario, publically funded Nursing home expenses for a private room start at $30,000 per year and private retirement residences are much more expensive. There are other potential cash requirements such as the expense of personal care…