All About Estates

Month: May 2021

Total 19 Posts

Audio Recordings in a Guardianship Application; Think Twice Before Pressing Record

In the recent guardianship case, Rudin-Brown v. Brown, the court considered whether to admit into evidence recordings made of an incapable adult’s telephone conversations. Carolyn was found to be incapable in 2018.  In 2016, Carolyn signed new power of attorney documents for personal care and property (“2016 Powers of Attorney”)…

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Non-Resident Beneficiaries and Canadian Real Property: Canada’s hot housing market can increase the work of estate executors

Distributions from the estate of a Canadian resident to a non-resident can give rise to additional compliance obligations under section 116 of the Income Tax Act where the estate owns Canadian real estate.  The need for such a clearance certificate is determined based on the value of real estate held…

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Whose Claim Is It Anyway?

In the recent decision of Goldentuler v. Simmons Da Silva LLP, 2021 ONCA 2019, the Court of Appeal for Ontario considered whether an individual had capacity to commence a lawsuit in which the cause of action belonged to an estate. Facts The late Henry Goldentuler (“Henry”) was a lawyer in…

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Disability Tax Credit

The 2021 Federal Budget included proposals that would see an expansion of the Disability Tax Credit to more Canadians. The Disability Tax Credit (DTC), with a value of $1,299 for 2021, is a non-refundable credit intended to offset the impact of disability-related costs. In order to claim this credit, a…

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Getting Lost In The System

And I don’t mean figuratively, I mean literally.  I heard two stories this past week of two elderly individuals who are both quite compromised with dementia.  One lives in a retirement residence and the other lives in her own home with care support. In both instances, they had a fall…

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