Estate planning is an exercise in time travel. It is impossible to predict the future, especially when the time gap between planning and death is often decades. Fast forward 25 years, a charity may not exist when the estate is distributed. Charity law identified this problem and a solution to it over…
Malcolm Burrows
Malcolm is a philanthropic advisor with 30 years of experience. He is head, philanthropic advisory services at Scotia Wealth Management and founder of Aqueduct Foundation. Views are his own. malcolm.burrows@scotiawealth.com
In estates, the tax rules governing professional artists and their art are both enabling and complex. On the enabling side of the ledger, art is treated as inventory for tax purposes, which means works can have a NIL value. Sales, however, are fully taxable as income, not capital gains. On…
Charity regulators all have processes for members of the public to make complaints about the charities. These processes reveal as much about the regulator and the underlying laws as they do about charity malfeasance. Charities are generally good actors, but they do sometimes have lapses or get caught in internal,…
In November 2022, The Winnipeg Foundation, announced a $500 million estate donation from a 66-year-old businesswoman named Miriam Bergen. Ms Bergen is an exceptional example of a common but overlooked donor: the older person without kids. Ms Bergen’s estate is larger and more complicated than most. She owned a business that was…
John Quinn was a corporate lawyer and Wall Street titan. A bachelor known for his many lovers, Quinn was also America’s first great modern art collector and tireless public champion. He was a friend of literary and art legends like Picasso, WB Yeats, and Joseph Conrad. Quinn died in 1924 of cancer…
On Giving Tuesday last month, The Winnipeg Foundation announced a $500 million estate donation from a local donor, Miriam Bergen. The donation is of two companies. Appleton Holdings Ltd., which owns Edison Properties, which in turn holds 27 rental apartment and commercial buildings in Winnipeg. The donor’s wished that her…
A direct designation gift of RRIF or life insurance proceeds is an estate donation, but lawyers and executors have little or no role to play. Normal procedural and disclosure rules don’t apply. How do charities ensure they receive their intended gift? How does the estate receive its tax receipt? Direct…
I recently spoke to an estate lawyer who told me she would never recommend certain charities to clients. Why? Because of the way these charities treated estate trustees. Some charities are unduly litigious, grind on fees, and are obstreperous about releases. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this comment…
Tax relief for an estate donation cannot be claimed until the property is transferred to a charity. No tax receipt; no tax credits. If the distribution is after 60 months after death of the donor there is no tax receipt at all. But what if the estate has illiquid assets…
The 2016 introduction of the Graduated Rate Estate (GRE) regime was accompanied by the “estate donations” rules. These Income Tax Act provisions altered the administrative and tax treatment of gifts by will, as well as direct designation gifts of life insurance, RRSP/RRIFs, and TFSAs. How are charities and executors managing…