All About Estates

Month: March 2021

Total 22 Posts

MAID Update – Bill C-7

The senate has passed Bill C-7, which introduces changes to Canada’s Criminal Code provisions regulating MAID. The changes will create a new, two-track system for applying for MAID.

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Death, taxes and cryptocurrency

Everyone knows that you can’t avoid the tax collector, and death is no exception.  Under the Canadian Income Tax Act, on the death of an individual subsection 70(5) will trigger a deemed disposition of all the deceased taxpayer’s capital property at fair market value thus taxing any accrued capital gains…

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Holidays and Family Traditions – COVID style

This past weekend we celebrated the first night of Passover; and I think this holiday was the hardest one for me.  Regardless of what and how you celebrate, for many the family and cultural connections rather than any religious significance is what we hold on to.  Last year this time…

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New Privacy Legislation Aims to Address Digital Assets in Estate Administration

Practitioners and clients alike have come to realize that there can be numerous legal challenges to administering a testator’s digital assets, including, among them, ambiguous or restrictive privacy legislation. For most Canadian provinces,[1] the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) does not appear to grant executors, trustees, or…

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March is Fraud Prevention Month

This Blog was written by Kimberley Ling, Scotia Wealth Management This past weekend I watched the movie ‘I Care a Lot’– very timely and relevant as March is Fraud Prevention month. In this fictional movie, the main character runs a disturbing guardianship business that preys on wealthy seniors, taking control…

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Death Benefit Payments

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently released a translated technical interpretation with helpful guidance on the tax treatment of a death benefit payment in certain specific situations. A death benefit is income of either the estate or the beneficiary who receives it. Up to $10,000 of the total of all…

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“BUY THE SHOES”

Congratulations to all of us- it is the first week of spring and we have managed through a difficult winter.  While we are here today and reading this blog- we have much to be thankful for. However there are so many of us who have faced a loss this year…

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Dude, Where’s My Car? – How to Transfer the Ownership of a Deceased Person’s Vehicle to a Beneficiary in Ontario

More often than not, we come across the following question from an Executor: How do I transfer the ownership of the deceased’s vehicle where the deceased specifically named a beneficiary in the Will? This seems like a fairly simple process but as I’ve learned over time, nothing is as simple…

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One in Ten: Why Bequest Donors Don’t Inform Charities

One in ten.  That, according to charitable sector studies, is how many estate donors inform the charities in their will of their intentions.  While this ratio varies by charity it underscores a fascinating paradox.  Bequest donors trust charities enough to make them beneficiaries of their estate, but they don’t trust…

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Court of Appeal for Ontario Dismisses Moot Guardianship Appeal

In Hernandez v. Hernandez, 2021 ONSC 106, the Court of Appeal for Ontario considered the issue of whether litigation involving the personal care of a person is rendered moot after that person dies. In 2017, Cheri Hernandez commenced an application seeking an order terminating the authority of her brother, Norman…

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