As someone who has been around the life insurance industry in a professional and personal capacity for several decades, I am always curious about what motivates people to buy or not buy life insurance. I understand that few people spend time thinking about the consequences of low-probability events and are…
Month: June 2020
Total 20 Posts
Let me start this blog by expressing my sincere thanks to all of you who reached out to me last week. Support during times of grief is so soothing and comforting and yet words do not quite make up for the warm embrace of friends and loved one who cannot…
Earlier today, the Ontario government extended all its emergency orders (including the order suspending statutory deadlines). de VRIES LITIGATION LLP brings you this special Saturday blog on this matter and other breaking developments on the justice system and COVID-19. As noted in my previous blog, the Ontario government made an…
Today’s blog is being brought to you by guest blogger, Jennifer Campbell, a law clerk in the Private Client Services group of Fasken LLP. The time finally came that my brother and I have had to have “the talk” with our parents. No no, not THAT talk. Rather, the talk…
An “ah ha” of COVID-19 is the importance of unrestricted giving to charity. Donors, foundations and charities are realizing that excess conditions may hinders responses to urgent social needs. Will this insight last beyond the pandemic? And does it apply to estate donations? Trust-Based Philanthropy First a bit of context. …
In the recent decision of Volk v. Volk, 2020 ONCA 297, the Court of Appeal for Ontario declined the moving parties’ motion for a stay pending appeal of an Order granting the sale of real property alleged to have been purchased by attorneys for property with the funds of the…
It is with the heaviest of heart that I write today’s blog after saying my final goodbye to my mother. My mother often inspired my writings and most Monday’s she would send me a note, saying no more than ‘ hi lovey, good blog today’. It took a little while …
This is a three-part blog series that seeks to explore the manner in which one can conduct estate planning with respect to their copy of the popular 2020 Nintendo Switch video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Part I discussed the importance of this topic and described the applicability of a…
Unhappily, it is not uncommon for family members to be at loggerheads as to who controls the body of a loved one and whether the body should be cremated or buried. I previously blogged on the 2018 case Miller v. Miller, a decision by Justice Myers of the ONSC, which…
In this space, sometime ago, a fellow blogger wrote about how survivor payments made out of a deceased’s tax free savings account (TFSA) to the deceased’s spouse TFSA would qualify as an “exempt contribution” (i.e. the contribution room in the surviving spouse’s TFSA would not be affected by the addition…