All About Estates

Darren Lund

Total 48 Posts Website
Darren Lund is a member of the Trust, Wills, Estates and Charities at Fasken, Toronto office. Darren has expertise in a broad range of estate planning matters, including multiple wills, inter vivos trusts, disability planning, estate freezing, and planning for beneficiaries and assets outside Canada. Darren advises trustees and beneficiaries on all aspects of estate administration, both contentious and non-contentious, and his experience includes passing of fiduciary accounts, trust variations, post-mortem tax planning, and administering the Canadian estates of non-residents. He also speaks and writes on a variety of related topics such as estate planning for spouses and couples, inheriting overseas property and estate planning for persons with disabilities. He previously practised estates law at a large national law firm. Email: dlund@fasken.com

Coming to an Estates Court Near You?

When one year ends and a new one begins, it is common to look ahead and make predictions about what may be in store in the coming year. In that vein, the decision of Del Frate J. in S.H. v D.H., ONSC 4506, caught my eye. Although the decision is…

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Changes Are Coming to the Ontario Disability Support Program

In July, the Ontario Minister of Children, Community and Social Services (“Minister”) announced that the provincial government was set to spend 100 days developing a plan “to reform social assistance so it helps more people break the cycle of poverty, re-enter the workforce and get back on track.” [1] At…

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Posthumously-Conceived Children Revisited

Please note: This blog has been updated from the original version which appeared on October 19, 2019. In a previous blog I wrote about Ontario’s new parentage rules, which came into force on January 1, 2017. Those are the rules that govern who is recognized at law to be a…

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Update: Ford Government Rolls Back Changes to ODSP General Regulation

In my last blog I described some important changes to the Ontario Disability Support Program (“ODSP”). Specifically, I looked at certain provisions of Ontario Regulation 278/18 (“Amending Regulation”), which amended Ontario Regulation 222/98, the General ODSP Regulation (“ODSP Regulation”), to: eliminate the $10,000 limit on voluntary payments to ODSP recipients…

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Welcome Amendments to the ODSP General Regulation

Please note, this blog has since been updated here. In my last blog, I began looking at the treatment of the “matrimonial home” under the Ontario Family Law Act, and promised to continue that discussion in my next blog, which of course is this blog. I have decided to put…

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Estate Planning and Family Law: The Matrimonial Home Part I

A marriage contract is often an important component of an integrated estate plan. Frequently the discussion arises when the children of the first or second generation in a successful family business begin to marry, particularly where those children are beneficiaries of a discretionary family trust that holds common shares in…

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M.R.R. v. J.M.: Judicial Consideration of Ontario’s New Parentage Rules

The new rules for determining parentage in Ontario, which were enacted by the All Families Are Equal Act (“AFAEA”), came into force on January 1, 2017. The new rules are set out in the new Part I of the Children’s Law Reform Act (“CLRA”), which replaced the former Parts I…

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The Tax on Split Income: Round Three

On March 22, 2018 the Minister of Finance released the budget implementation bill for the 2018 federal budget (“Budget Bill”), which was tabled on February 27, 2018. The Budget Bill contains some helpful amendments to the second iteration of the tax on split income (“TOSI”) rules that were released on…

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Budget 2018 Extends “Qualifying Family Member” Option for RDSP’s

On February 27, 2018 the federal government tabled its 2018 budget, Equality + Growth: A Strong Middle Class (“Budget 2018”). One of the budget items that has not received a lot of attention is the extension of the “qualifying family member” (“QFM”) provision for Registered Disability Savings Plans (“RDSP’s”). The…

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Death and TOSI Part 2: Spouses

My past two blogs have looked at the December 13, 2017 draft legislation that amends and expands the tax on split income (“TOSI”) rules. In my last blog I outlined some of the special rules that apply (in the context of TOSI) to income and gains on property that is…

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