All About Estates

Month: July 2018

Total 17 Posts

Business Succession Planning and the Next Generation

All business owners face the task of trying to determine what to do with their businesses when they retire or in the event of a sudden death: sell to the next generation, sell to a 3rd party or sell the assets and wind-up the business. According to the Canadian Federation…

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I Didn’t Want To Wake You…..

A story I heard….. Last week Zoey had the pleasure of visiting her aunt and uncle (in celebration of a 90th bday) who live in the States. Zoey and her husband accompanied her mother who took the train in (by herself) from Montreal so that we could fly together. Zoey’s…

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A Cautionary Tale of (Non)-Compliance

This week I was reminded of the perils of non-compliance, and thought it worthwhile to remind readers of a potential pitfall to be avoided. We are all aware of the many tasks that have to be completed in the course of administering an estate, some obviously on a much more…

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My Summer Vacation

One of my favorite routines on my annual summer vacation is to read the local news. Regular readers of this Blog may not be surprised that the story which caught my eye this summer was about an Estate.   Richard M. Grant, a life-long farmer, known as the “The Corn King”…

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Death, Delay, and Dismissal

There are numerous technical traps a lawsuit can fall into which will need to be corrected before the matter moves forward. Generally speaking, the current norms of practice are for the parties to sort out any technical deficiencies between themselves so court time can be devoted to arguing the substantive…

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Sharing the Caring

This past week I met with two new clients who were both single women in their mid- 70’s. They both lived alone in their own condos and had retired from well-paying jobs. There were reaching out to EC to help guide them in thinking about and planning for a time…

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Not All “Trump Bumpf” is Bluster

As part of the ‘Donald’s’ post-election “promises” we heard rumours that US gift and estate taxes were going to be repealed. While we did not see a repeal, we did see a significant change to the rules related to US gift and estate tax. The particular change came forward in…

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Art Copyright and Estates

Copyright & Art Ernest Gambart was a pioneering art dealer and showman in Victorian England who uncovered the value of art copyright.  His specialty was a triple play.  First, he mounted an exhibition (typically a single painting such as William Powell Firth’s The Derby Day); second, the sold the work; and third, he…

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TFSA’s and Residency

Recently, one of my blog colleagues wrote on the residency rules regarding tax free saving accounts (TFSA’s). Generally, as an owner of TFSA, if you leave Canada, the accumulated funds may remain in the TFSA without Canadian tax consequences. You can’t make any further contributions but you can make withdrawals….

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Grey area: The fragile frontier of dementia, intimacy and sexual consent

Originally posted for allaboutestates.ca Grey area: The fragile frontier of dementia, intimacy and sexual consent was the Saturday July 14, 2018 front page headline in the Globe and Mail. Seniors and sexuality finally makes the front page of a national newspaper. However It is much more than that and the…

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