All About Estates

Month: August 2018

Total 18 Posts

PENSION PLAN LUMP SUM PAYOUTS

This fact scenario is based on a situation presented to me recently and I appreciated the opportunity to being “re-educated” on the tax treatment of pension plan lump sum payments. A taxpayer’s spouse retires as a teacher and elects to start receiving her guaranteed pension. A couple of year later,…

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A Feel Good Story

I am one of the lucky ones. I like what I do and I enjoy my work very much. The counsellors who work with me say the same thing and while we do deal with much sadness, we always try and find the positive in our daily work. This is…

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Welcome Amendments to the ODSP General Regulation

Please note, this blog has since been updated here. In my last blog, I began looking at the treatment of the “matrimonial home” under the Ontario Family Law Act, and promised to continue that discussion in my next blog, which of course is this blog. I have decided to put…

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Trust reporting requirements

The Department of Finance recently released draft legislation for consultation.  The draft rules serve to implement measures announced in the 2018 Federal Budget including rules affecting trust income tax reporting. For trust returns that are required to be filed for the 2021 and subsequent taxation years, Budget 2018 proposed that…

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When More Help is Needed: Moving Seniors with Dementia to Care Facilities

Section 4(1) of the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA) sets out a two-part test for determining whether a person has the capacity to consent to medical treatment, to be admitted to a care facility, or to receive a personal assistive service/device: Is the person able to understand information relevant to…

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Revisiting Spence v BMO and the case of Discriminatory Wills: Why the saga should not be over

By: Giancarlo Mignardi, Summer Law Student   Two years later and, given the absence of any further noteworthy cases on point, including a Supreme Court decision, this blogger believes that further discussion about discriminatory wills is warranted. In Spence v BMO Trust Company,[1] the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) delivered…

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Artist Foundations

In the U.S. there is a generation of contemporary artists who have never been richer and they are endowing – with art and money – some significant foundations. Cy Twombly Foundation, for example, reportedly has assets of over $1.5 billion. There is even a support initiative called the Artist-Endowed Foundation…

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It’s All About The Benjamin Orders

Did William die? If so, when? These were the central issues addressed in Steele v. Smith, 2018 ONSC 4601. There, the Court had to consider whether the estate trustee of William’s sister’s estate should receive a “Benjamin Order”, permitting the estate trustee to distribute the residue of her estate as if…

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