All About Estates

Month: August 2021

Total 19 Posts

Tax planning in uncertain times

Tax planning can be very complicated with an Income Tax Act (“Act”) consisting of over 1.1 million words. This is a far cry from the original 4,000 words of the Act’s predecessor, Income War Tax Act[1], which was originally enacted as a temporary measure in 1917. The more than 3,000…

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Having An Advocate: Critical So Your Wishes Can Be Respected

Readers of this blog may remember  that I have been working with a wonderful woman who is now 101 years of age.  She is a ‘solo senior or elder orphan’ or simply put, a single woman who never married, never had children and at 101 years of age, has outlived…

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The Hot Housing Market and Important Planning Considerations

House prices across Ontario have seen incredible growth over the past 18 months, in part because of changing work and living arrangements as a result of the pandemic. As described in a recent Toronto Star article, the average house price in the GTA as of July 2021 was $1,062,256, a…

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#FreeBritney: Toxic, Conservatorships, and Guardianship Abuse

This blog was written by Raluca Gondor You may know Britney Spears for her hit songs like Piece of Me, Toxic, and Criminal. But lurking behind a wildly successful career is a darker aspect of her life, one that may be foreshadowed by her song titles: Britney Spears’ conservatorship. Since…

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AMENDING TAX ELECTIONS AFTER THE FACT

The rollover provisions of the Income Tax Act, under subsection 85, permit a taxpayer to elect to transfer “eligible property” to a taxable Canadian corporation in exchange for consideration that includes at least one share of the corporation. “Eligible property” includes most capital property, Canadian or foreign resource property, eligible…

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Dementia: Therapeutic Fibbing OR Going With the Flow?

This past week I had an interesting discussion with some of my team members (registered social workers and occupational therapists ) on whether or not it is appropriate to tell a white lie with individuals living with a dementia.  “Therapeutic fibbing is a controversial yet very effective method of dealing…

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How Does Private Adoption Work?

In my blog post of June 11, 2021, I wrote about Estate Planning and Adoption. I had many positive responses to that post from the estates community, so I thought I would write in more detail about the process. In Ontario, potential adopters can take three paths towards adoption: private…

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The Question of Executor: Who, What, When, Where and Why?

This blog was written by Maggie Dalke – Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management Estate planning can be very complex and there is always a lot of detail to cover with our clients. We look at how to achieve a tax efficient estate, address estate liquidity, beneficiary designations,…

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A Tale of Two Versions: The Court of Appeal Invalidates a Will

My colleague Joanna Lindenberg and I had previously blogged on the case of Bayford v. Boese (the decision and the costs decision, respectively) where the court upheld the validity of a challenged will (the second of two ‘versions’ of the same will). However, in Bayford v. Boese, 2021 ONCA 442…

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