Good morning, as readers may know I consult directly to Financial Institutions, advisors and their clients as well as providing direct ‘Wellness Consultations’ with older adults and their families. I was recently interviewed in Matters BeyondWealth, by Leanne Kaufman CEO of Royal Trust. A great podcast series that I encourage…
Month: October 2023
Total 15 Posts
It is very difficult to plan for every possible scenario when you are drafting your will. Not only is it important to consider who to name as your executor, but you also need to think about what would happen if something happened to your executor. In an earlier blog, I…
Autumn is my favourite time of year. It’s often frantically busy with work, but when I have a chance to lift my head up from year-end responsibilities, I savour the reminders of abundance, the wealth of the harvest in this corner of the world, and the crisp cool air is…
A recently released decision, Giann v Giannopoulos, 2023 ONSC 5412, provides clarity on a question that frequently arises in estate litigation: what information is a party entitled to from the deceased’s personal records and documents? This case, heard by Justice Myers of the estate list in mid-September this year was…
In clinical geriatric psychiatry, it is an accepted standard of care to obtain corroborative information when conducting clinical evaluations.However, medical-legal tasks of capacity evaluation, such as for the evaluation of capacity to instruct counsel, testamentary capacity and possibly even capacity to appoint powers of attorney, may require strict confidentiality which prevents obtaining corroborative information from informants. As a result, obtaining corroborative information for capacity evaluation in this context is more complex than in clinical care.
As our population ages, more people are faced with caring for an elderly family member who wishes to remain at home despite their complex health and personal care needs. A few years ago, I wrote an article about the proliferation of healthcare coordinators, navigators, and community care coordinators trying to…
This blog has been written by Rahul Sharma, Partner at Fasken LLP A couple of recent telephone calls reminded me of the perils of estate and tax planning that crosses borders without proper planning. The first case is regrettably quite common. An entrepreneur in the technology sector (we will call…
From the 19th century to about 1990, the testamentary charitable trust was an important estate planning structure. These trusts are part of the will and are funded after death from estate assets. At one time, testamentary trusts were the primary way for an individual to support one or more charities…
The matter of the payment of a party’s legal fees at the end of a hard fought court battle can hold up or impact upon settlement. Indeed, oftentimes, the issue of the costs of litigation becomes a subject in and of itself to be argued over in court. Generally, the…
Given the horrific tragedy that occurred last week in Israel, I will not be posting a blog this morning. This week reaffirmed for me the reality that what impacts your loved ones also impacts you.