Last week, I discussed some of the risks for a professional advisor that may arise in the administration of the estate that are associated with the assets of the estate. This week’s blog considers risks which arise from the beneficiaries (or would-be beneficiaries) of the estate, as well as steps…
Emily Hubling
Emily Hubling is an associate in the Trusts, Wills, Estates and Charities group at Fasken. Emily has experience in advising estate trustees in administering a range of complex estate matters, including intestacies, cross-border matters, and contested estates. Working closely with clients’ advisors, Emily prepares Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Trusts to assist clients in fulfilling their unique estate-planning objectives.
Introduction [1] It is not uncommon for a client to ask a professional advisor to act as his or her executor. For the advisor, this request may be an honour, as it speaks to the level of trust the client has in the advisor’s professional knowledge and judgment. The appointment…
By: Giancarlo Mignardi, Summer Law Student Two years later and, given the absence of any further noteworthy cases on point, including a Supreme Court decision, this blogger believes that further discussion about discriminatory wills is warranted. In Spence v BMO Trust Company,[1] the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) delivered…
Guest written by Jessica Nolan, student-at-law at Fasken. A recent case out of British Columbia offers a number of lessons for estate planning. Robledano v. Jacinto (2018 BCSC 152) involved the estate of Barbara Jacinto who died unexpectedly. Barbara had been in a relationship with Maria Robledano on and off…
As a “millennial” (an imprecise demographic term which describes those born between 1980 and somewhere in the late 1990s), I often hear about the ways in which my generation is doing things differently (often worse) than those generations before us: we live on our smartphones[1], we can’t seem to get…
An estate planner’s clients typically express a desire to minimize taxes payable on death, including Estate Administration Tax (“probate fees”), which are payable on the value of the assets governed by a Will which is probated. For many clients, their home is their asset of most significant value. With the…
Clients often ask about how to best ensure their pets are cared for in their estate plans. It’s a topic this blog has covered before, from the care of commercial animals after the owner’s death, to the pitfalls in drafting clauses for the benefit of pets, to the curious case…
The Supreme Court recently released a decision that, while arising in the construction context, has important implications for estates practitioners. In the case of Valard Construction Ltd. V Bird Construction Co. (2018 SCC 8), a majority of the SCC found that, In general, wherever a beneficiary would be unreasonably disadvantaged…