All About Estates

Month: May 2022

Total 14 Posts

What if… the Kardashian Deathbed Marriage Took Place under Ontario Law?

A Thought Experiment Recently, I had the opportunity to co-author a paper on deathbed retainers with Justin de Vries. In drafting this paper, I had the occasion to think about deathbed wills from every conceivable angle. The idea for this blog started as footnote 81: a hypothetical thought experiment on…

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What Happens When a Shareholder (Voting) or a Director Becomes Incapable; Powers of Attorney for Property and Shareholder Agreement Drafting Tips

This is Part II of my saga on addressing circumstances of incapacity, Part I can be found at: https://www.allaboutestates.ca/powers-of-attorney-for-property-implications-of-obtaining-a-formal-capacity-assessment/. Part II, being this blog post, addresses two situations that we, as estate planners, are commonly asked about: Director becomes incapable – who can sign for them? Shareholder (voting) becomes incapable…

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Seven Faces of Philanthropy

  The Seven Faces of Philanthropy: A New Approach to Cultivating Major Donors is an iconic American fundraising book published in 1994.  In it authors Russ Allen Prince and Karen Maru File neatly categorize charitable profiles.  While written for a fundraising audience, the book is a helpful reminder that charitable…

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Testamentary Capacity and Expert Reports

As many well know, issues relating to testamentary capacity are often at the forefront of estate litigation cases and in particular, will challenges. Drafting solicitors may opt to obtain a contemporaneous capacity assessment before their clients execute a last will and testament; this may be the case where the testator…

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When (Y)Our Help is Refused

“I don’t need anything…. I am fine…… Leave me alone…..” Do any of these refrains sound familiar to you? Last week I was part of a conversation during which a group of woman friends got together to brain storm ways to assist another one of their friends, who has a…

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Life changes…so why shouldn’t your Will?

Today’s blog was written by Courtney Lanthier, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP I’ve had a few instances where clients have asked “is this really my LAST will, or will I be doing this all over again in five or ten years?” which, in fairness, is a great question. As estate…

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The soft issues matter – Choosing an Executor

This blog was written by Justin Ecclestone, Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management  As someone who works for a trust company, much of my day is spent educating our bank’s clients about the estate and trust planning services we can offer. In many cases, clients see the value…

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Compensation as Attorney for Personal Care: Guided by Reasonableness and Proportionality

The 2021 decision in Sasso v. Sasso[1] was recently affirmed by the Ontario Court of Appeal. The Sasso case has a few interesting aspects to it but for the purpose of this blog I focus on the claim for compensation which was made by an attorney for personal care. Although…

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The Monday after Mother’s Day

While the sun did shine yesterday, it was still a difficult day for many of us.  I can’t even image the terrible pain as a parent and specifically as a mother- to lose a child.  As a daughter I know the pain of having lost my mother. Regardless of age …

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A CAREER IN WILLS AND ESTATES – COULD IT BE FOR YOU?

This blog has been written by Sandra Arsenault, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP As our fellow blog writer, Audrey Miller wrote earlier this week (here), new Census data indicates that the number of seniors over age 85 is expected to triple in the next 25 years. Could this be an…

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