All About Estates

Tag: COVID-19

Total 35 Posts

Video Conferencing Courtroom Etiquette – Three Simple Steps

This Blog was written by Emily Racine, Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management These days we are all finding creative ways of adapting our lives to the new normal. COVID-19 has changed the landscape of all businesses, including the legal profession. With social distancing rules in place, and…

Continue Reading

Can A Broken System Be Fixed?

I don’t know about you- but I am struggling with our new normal and the mounting deaths in Long Term Care.  As you have been reading, for the last several years we have had major challenges in our Long Term Care system.  I previously wrote a 3 – part article…

Continue Reading

Should Foundations Give More?

Charitable foundations are grappling with their response to COVID-19.  A Canadian initiative, Give5.ca, is advocating for increased granting through a time limited pledge in 2020.  Simply, the ask is for foundations to pledge to grant at least of five percent of their assets to registered charities in 2020.  That’s it….

Continue Reading

Virtual Will Signings and Access to Justice: Do Social Distancing Measures in Estate Law Help Everyone?

This Blog was written by Emily Racine, Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management COVID-19 has changed the landscape in almost all aspects of our day to day lives. This includes the practice of estate law. With so many vulnerable individuals looking to complete their estate plan in the…

Continue Reading

COVID-19: Moving Past Quill and Ink to Use New Technology

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic there is a risk that some litigation may stall. There are many skeptics to technological workarounds to conduct matters remotely. However, the perfect cannot be the enemy of the good and we cannot simply pause litigation until the pandemic is over. In Arconti v. Smith,…

Continue Reading

Have you had the conversation yet?

It seems as though my last few blogs have all started off with a report on COVID-19 in Long Term Care residences and the number of residents who have died. As of Sunday, May 2, 2020 there are now 170 long term care residences which have outbreaks and 954 confirmed…

Continue Reading

One Conversation Can Make All The Difference

Last week I shared that as of April 19, 2020, there were 112 long-term care homes in Ontario  impacted by COVID-19 outbreaks and as of April 26, there are now 147 facilities affected with 654 confirmed resident deaths. This number is staggering. What I do understand is that many of…

Continue Reading

The Plague and Charitable Bequests

In 1348 the plague hit Florence – and Europe – hard. Half the population died in this densely populated city of 80,000. One result of this mass die-off was 350,000 florins of bequests to one organization, Orsanmichele, a grain market with a miracle producing Madonna shrine.  How much is 350,000…

Continue Reading

The Risky Business of Updating your Will in the Time of COVID-19

This blog was written by Paula Lester – Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management It’s the irony of today’s situation: more and more individuals are turning their minds to their estate plans in light of our current pandemic, but getting new Wills drafted and executed right now has…

Continue Reading

COVID-19: Virtual Witnessing of Wills and POAs Now Allowed

It is no surprise that many people are contemplating their own mortalities during the COVID-19 pandemic and wish to make a will. However, the existing laws are particularly unsuited to making wills in a time of social distancing; it will usually be impossible or unsafe to have two people witness…

Continue Reading