The recently enacted Underused Housing Tax Act[i] (UHTA) applies a one per cent tax on the ownership of vacant or underused housing in Canada. Per the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) published notification[ii] on Jan 17, 2023, “the vast majority of Canadian owners of residential property are excluded owners and, therefore,…
Because the doctrine of suspicious circumstances was developed in respect of probate and wills, it cannot easily be exported into other areas of law, including contract law.
Hectic, chaotic, busy, stressful, demanding are all words that can easily be a substitute for “wonderful” when thinking about our practice at this time of the year. With in-person holiday events and functions slowly starting to return to some sort of normalcy after a quiet few years, the added demands…
Approaching year end, you increasingly may be fielding calls from corporate lawyer peers who are closing transactions in which trusts are involved. For example, trusts may be direct vendors or sellers, or, perhaps HoldCos are the sellers, but one or more trusts own the shares of the HoldCos. This blog…
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, then by now it you should know that acting as a trustee comes with a minefield of obligations and duties. Sorry folks, but I’m adding one more to the pile. The Case In Galea v. Tybel et al., a trustee of a…
Estate trustees are entitled to seek compensation for their work. Unless an exception applies, the court will exercise its discretion to determine the amount.
Proposed regulation subsection 204.2(1) of the Income Tax Act (ITA) introduces a requirement for all trusts, that are required to file a return of income, to provide additional information[1] for each person who, in the year, is a trustee (or protector[2]), beneficiary or settlor[3]. This additional information includes: name, address,…
Canadian Tire “money” has been distributed by Canadian Tire stores for almost 65 years. While CT Money is often dismissed, it may be a mistake to ignore the bills as a potential asset of the estate.
Software Applications as Aids to the Estates Advisor For all of us advisors, there are likely certain types of software applications that we use for our day-to-day tasks: perhaps its Microsoft Outlook for sending emails, or a timekeeping software for recording dockets. And although these programs are leaps and bounds…
The Oxford Dictionary defines a fiduciary as a person in a position of trust, especially when it involves controlling money or property belonging to others. The law places particular emphasis on the trust relationship between a trustee and a third-party beneficiary. Among other duties, a fiduciary is required to: (1)…
