An estate trustee is responsible for distributing the property of the deceased to those who are beneficially entitled to it (either in accordance with the terms of the relevant testamentary instrument or, where there is no such instrument, in accordance with the rules set out in the relevant legislation). What…
Month: February 2024
Total 19 Posts
Who is the settlor? A simple question but many take the answer for granted; essentially, the Deed of Trust indicates the settlor and a paragraph confirms the settlor’s intention and defines the settled property. A trust is established only upon the settlor expressing his or her wishes to create a…
Around Valentine’s Day, love is in the air, and so unfortunately, are romance scams. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported that romance scams skyrocketed[1] during the massive shift online caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among older adults. Romance scams are now one of Canada’s most common frauds. As advisors, it is important that…
Bill C-21- An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms) This blog has been written by Sandra Arsenault, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP Estates practitioners should be aware that Bill C-21, the controversial legislation which imposes strict gun control provisions Canada-wide, received Royal Assent…
Alicia Mossington, Estate and Trust Consultant Executors have many responsibilities: paying debts; taxes; testamentary expenses; and managing estate assets. Different assets come with different responsibilities and rules and some assets – like rental properties – have unique complexities to manage. It is common for estates to include rental properties especially…
The Court in Gadula v Leroux, 2016 ONSC 6990 provided quite an interesting discussion regarding the entitlement of costs for all parties involved in a guardianship application and from where the costs were to be taken from. The issue of costs is unsurprisingly common in estate litigation and in litigation…
Gwenyth Stadig, Associate and Upama Poudyal, Articling Student – Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP This article forms part two of a two part series detailing the benefits and requirements of donating art for Canadian taxpayers to consider as part of their estate planning needs. Part one of this article series explored the benefits…
In circumstances where clients, who are Canadian residents, intend to equalize their estates amongst their children (“Equalization Intention”) where one or more of such children are “U.S. Persons” (a “U.S. Child”), estate planners need to consider whether that is possible and if so, how (“whether” and “how”, the “Questions”). This…
The joy of working with clients with multi-jurisdictional assets and families can be dampened by the frustrations triggered by working with authorities in those jurisdictions for the timely administration of estates. Having proper authentication of key estate administration documents – birth and death certificates, divorce judgments, probate certificates come to…