July 2025

Families Struggling with Hospital Discharges

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While most of us prefer to avoid the hospital, there may be times when we require acute hospital care. In Canada, we have basic insured health care coverage, which covers the cost of an acute hospital stay. However, discharge home from the hospital, especially with complex care needs, can be a story of frustration, confusion, and escalating costs with poor outcomes. In today’s overworked hospital systems, there are often long….

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Elder Management, Healthcare, Smart Ageing

Marriage Contracts: Process Over (okay, at least equal to) Substance

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This blog has been written by Darren Lund, Partner at Fasken LLP.   In several of my previous blogs, I have written about marriage contracts, and why they are an important element of estate planning. From a substantive perspective, there are many reasons why these agreements are relevant and may be needed to support a comprehensive estate plan.[1] If a family business owner has implemented an estate freeze that includes….

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Estate Planning, Spouse

The US Endowment Crisis and Tudor Oligarchs

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[caption id="attachment_21567" align="alignleft" width="225"] Trinity College, Oxford[/caption] Every few hundred years charitable endowments come under attack.  The Trump administration has imposed tax on the investment income of private foundations of up to 10%, up from 1.39%, as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”.  A similar bill, the Endowment Tax Fairness Act, seeks to Impose 21% tax on net income of private colleges and universities, which is equivalent to….

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Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

But WHY??

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It can be frustrating when, at the end of lengthy, hard fought litigation with an even longer record a court hands down a short decision less than a page long. The parties will scrutinize the decision, reading each line of the judge’s reasons over and over again. After repeating this exercise a few times they may still come away with the question – but why?? From a policy perspective, reasons….

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Appeals, Credibility

Cross-Border Charitable Donation & U.S. Donor

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Philanthropy can strengthen one’s estate plan. In Canada, an estate plan may integrate charitable donations to leave a legacy to our community while taking advantage of the associated tax benefits. Such strategy can be implemented during the donor’s lifetime or upon the donor’s death. If the donor is a U.S. citizen living in Canada (hereinafter referred as a “U.S. donor”), does the strategy work? U.S. donor & U.S. Tax Filings….

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Charitable Giving, International, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Tax Issues, U.S. Citizen, US Taxes

BEHIND THE SCENES – A LEGAL ASSISTANT’S ROLE IN ESTATE PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION FILES

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I’m confident that lawyers and clerks who work with assistants will agree: legal assistants are vital to the daily operations of a legal practice. There have been a number of blogs written about the day in the life of an estate planner or a law clerk working in estates. In today’s blog, I’ve invited my assistant, Sarah Whelan, to share insights into her role and highlight the key aspects of….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Wills
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