A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Verch Estate v. Weckwerth, reaffirms the autonomy of Ontario testators to distribute their estates as they wish provided that their statutory obligations are fulfilled. In this case, which was brought to my attention by a post on Lynne Butler’s Estate Law…
In previous blogs, I have written about the definition of “qualified donee” in the Income Tax Act (Canada). This definition is important for two reasons. First, in order for a gift made by an individual to qualify for charitable tax credits, the recipient must be a qualified donee. Second, under…
Readers of this blog who are in some manner associated with federal non-profit corporations will likely already be aware that a new federal non-profit corporate statute, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act or “CNCA”, was proclaimed into force on October 17, 2011. The CNCA does not automatically apply to existing federal…
In a previous blog, I wrote about the need for specificity when drafting provisions that include a “spouse” of a particular person as a potential beneficiary of an estate or trust.
Attention is also needed to ensure that when a Will refers to terms such as “children” or “issue”, the persons included within these classes are those that the testator intends to benefit. This is particularly true in the current age, where there are an increasing number of different types of relationships and manners of having children.
The recent endorsement issued by Justice P.C. Hennessy in Makarchuk v. Makarchuk, 2011 ONSC 4633 serves as a reminder of the importance of considering estate planning issues when spouses are separating.
As world attention appears to be increasingly focused on the economic news coming from the United States, and the various political debates in that country regarding deficit reduction and tax policy, I thought it would be interesting and timely to draw readers attention to a recent Reuters article that profiles a leader of the U.S. political movement to repeal estate taxes.
A recent on-line article in Rolling Stone magazine describes how nearly five years following the death of the legendary James Brown, his estate, which had a value of approximately $100 million dollars on the date of his death, remains undistributed.
The small business owner’s choice of estate trustees is very important to the successful administration of his or her estate and succession of his or her small business. Many factors should be considered when such a choice is being made.
It is sometimes difficult for family members to find a deceased’s Will or to ascertain whether a particular Will is in fact her “last” Will.
The deceased may have stored his Will at his solicitor’s office, in his safety deposit box or among his possessions, or with some other individual altogether.
In a previous blog, I wrote about some non-tax related small business estate planning issues to consider upon the death of a sole proprietor. In this blog, I wanted to touch on some non-tax issues affecting owners of small businesses that are structured as either partnerships or limited partnerships.
