All About Estates

Month: March 2023

Total 14 Posts

Representation of Incapable Individuals

In disputes relating to the guardianship of an incapable person, the subject of their representation often arises. The appointment of counsel pursuant to section 3 of the Substitute Decisions Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. 30 (“section 3 counsel”) is often treated as akin to or even the same as the…

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Private foundations & private company shares

Philanthropic individuals that own their wealth in a private company may want to set-up a charitable legacy by donating some of their shares or debt to a private foundation. Although this sounds like a great idea, caution needs to be exercised. Donations of private company shares or debt to a…

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Housing Options for Seniors in Canada

What Are the Housing Options for Seniors? As each decade passes, one of our challenging and essential questions is – what are the housing options for seniors? Since the COVID pandemic, polling has shown that older Canadians have overwhelmingly indicated they wish to stay in their homes until the end…

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Considerations when Administering a Canadian Estate with US Situs Assets

Today’s blog is written by Jessica J. Butler, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. As today’s world continues to grow increasingly interconnected, more estate professionals find themselves dealing with a web of cross-border assets and jurisdictional issues.  This post considers certain issues that you might face when administering a Canadian estate…

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Complaining about a charity

Charity regulators all have processes for members of the public to make complaints about the charities.  These processes reveal as much about the regulator and the underlying laws as they do about charity malfeasance.  Charities are generally good actors, but they do sometimes have lapses or get caught in internal,…

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Don’t be Vexed Over Security for Costs of an Appeal

Security for costs is designed to ensure that a defendant to an action or a respondent to an application does not have to incur the expense of a fulsome defence without the possibility of recovering a portion of her costs against the plaintiff/applicant.

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Is there a doctor in the house?

“Ontario will be short 33,000 nurses and PSWs by 2028”, financial watchdog projects. Folks, please pay attention, we are already feeling the shortage of medical care in our hospitals, long term care settings and of course, at home as well. My own family doctor is retiring and I suppose I…

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Intestacy 101

Today’s blog was written by Courtney Lanthier, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. People in our profession often cringe when they hear the words “they died without a Will”, because as soon as we do, we can almost always envision problems arising. Unfortunately, it has become more and more common to…

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The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg

This Blog was written by: Kristie Smith, Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotia Wealth Management  Last week marked the 104th anniversary of death of Saginaw, Michigan lumber baron – and, evidently, eccentric millionaire – Wellington Burt, but only the 12th anniversary of the settlement and distribution of his estate. His is…

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Can Information from the Internet Be Used As Evidence in Court? 

In J.N. v. C.G., 2023 ONCA 77, the Court of Appeal for Ontario considered whether information from the internet was admissible in Court and reliable as expert evidence. Facts:  The appellant father and respondent mother were married for almost seven years before separating. They had three children. The oldest child lived…

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