Earlier this year, my father-in- law left us suddenly. While my in-laws were careful about planning for this day there was still some Estate Administration Tax (EAT) to be paid on the transfer of assets between spouses. Armed with that experience, my mother-in-law is determined pay the least amount of…
Month: October 2017
Total 19 Posts
The family caregiver plays a key role in supporting the very fabric of Canadian society. The most recent Census data tells us that 28% of all Canadians provide unpaid care to a family member or friend. If you are reading this article, chances are you are or know someone close…
Robert and Signe McMichael, the namesake of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, were savvy art collectors who made some painful philanthropic and estate planning mistakes. Visionary Collectors Starting in 1955, when they were in their early 30s, they started buying landscape paintings by the Group of Seven and…
Nobody is perfect – sometimes you lose your keys. Other times you lose your will. The problem is, by the time your estate trustee realizes the will is gone, you won’t be around to help look for it. The inability to find a testator’s will does not automatically result in…
As most trust and tax practitioners know, The Income Tax Act (“ITA”) will attribute trust income, losses, capital gains and capital losses to the contributor / settlor if certain conditions are met. The 2016 T3 Guide states the following: Certain related amounts, including taxable capital gains and allowable capital losses…
I had the pleasure of attending last week’s Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ conference, titled “Elder Abuse and Manners of Protecting the Elderly”. It focused on financial abuse which is the most common form of elder abuse. It provided an excellent overview with a panel discussion presented and moderated…
Estate planners commonly use the Latin term, “per stirpes”, when drafting wills, but most lay people have no idea what the term even means. This arcane term differs from the less commonly used, but still present, Latin term, “per capita”. It is important to understand the difference between these two…
As a law student, my trust law professor brought in a “dead hand” to help us remember the rule against perpetuities. The prop was effective: I have not forgotten that the rule stops trust property from being governed indefinitely from “beyond the grave.” While principles of trust law helpfully prevent…
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked to comment on the application of subsection 55(2) of the Income Tax Act to a hypothetical pipeline plan implemented on or after the date of death. Their answer was both comforting and not surprising. When engaged, subsection 55(2) has the effect of converting…
If you ask anyone where they would like to live when older, most would say that they want to remain living in their own homes- for as long as possible. What does ‘for as long as possible’ mean? Most times in means that the older individual is able to remain…