A recent New Brunswick case provides a thoughtful analysis on the removal of estate trustees (referred to as Estate Administrators in New Brunswick). In his will, the testator had named his sister as his estate trustee. The beneficiaries of his estate were his two children and his brother, Yves. However,…
How should an estate trustee proceed when they cannot identify or locate all of the heirs to an estate? In some cases, a challenge arises where a will does not identify the beneficiaries by name, but by class or some other description. For example, a will may leave the residue…
Estate Trustees During Litigation are appointed in a wide variety of situations where a neutral party is needed to administer and preserve the estate assets. The bar for their appointment is lower than to remove an estate trustee.
Wikipedia defines cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) as a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses strong cryptography to secure financial transactions, control the creation of additional units, and verify the transfer of assets. Cryptocurrencies use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central…
Secret and trusts are essentially trust arrangements made between a testator and a trustee, without written disclosure or agreement of the terms of the arrangement, but where an understanding exists between the parties. Based on precedent in case law, the essential elements of a secret trust are: • An intent…
The recent case of Novak v. McDougall, (2019 SKQB 261), confirms that when you have accepted an appointment to be trustee, you may not be able to have yourself removed from that appointment without a suitable replacement. The applicant in this case, a beneficiary of a “Henson” trust (basically defined…
Take the case of Estate of Ronald Alfred Craymer v Hayward et al, 2019 ONSC 4600, The Craymers were married in the 1980’s. It was a second marriage for Mrs. Craymer and a fourth marriage for Mr. Craymer. At the time of their marriage, Mrs. Craymer had three adult children…
Variation(s) of a trust agreement, after it is settled, does carry the risk of causing a resettlement of a trust or a disposition of a beneficiary’s interest in the trust, with serious tax consequences. But not all variations lead to resettlement, fortunately. Recently in an advance ruling, the Canada revenue…
In Ntakos Estate v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 224, a family business was owned by the deceased taxpayer, Anna (after her husband passed away in 1995) with two brothers-in-law through a holding corporation. Anna’s mental and physical health declined from 1995 until her death in 2004. She was diagnosed in…
Amendments to Canada Business Corporations Act (“CBCA”), will come into force mid-2019 which will require each private CBCA corporation to maintain a register listing the actual individuals (i.e., physical persons with name, address and date of birth and tax jurisdiction) with significant control in fact over the corporation including individuals…
