Today’s blog was written by Courtney Lanthier, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. As estate planning legal professionals, we sometimes lose sight of how difficult and confusing reading a Will can be, often full of “legalese” and sentences that seem to go on forever. An executor reading the will may not…
Today’s blog has been written by David C. Rosenbaum, Partner, at Fasken LLP Subsection 21.1(1) of the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA) permits the Superior Court of Justice to validate a document or will that was not properly executed or made under the Act, if the deceased died after January…
Are you planning to leave real estate to a loved one under your Will? Do you want that property to be transferred free of debt or other claims? If you’re making a specific gift of your interest in freehold or leasehold property that is subject to a mortgage, as…
Today’s blog has been written by Latoya Brown, Associate, at Fasken LLP In Part 1 of this series, we explored the importance of selecting the right trustee, using Jones v. Jones[1] to highlight what can go wrong when a trustee lacks a clear understanding of their fiduciary obligations. In this…
Today’s blog was written by Karen La Caprara, Counsel, at Fasken LLP. Pour-over clauses in wills are a staple in U.S. estate planning, used to direct estate assets into an existing trust. But in Ontario and British Columbia, these clauses can lead to invalid testamentary gifts, intestacy, and costly…
This blog has been written by Darren Lund, Partner at Fasken LLP. In several of my previous blogs, I have written about marriage contracts, and why they are an important element of estate planning. From a substantive perspective, there are many reasons why these agreements are relevant and may…
I’m confident that lawyers and clerks who work with assistants will agree: legal assistants are vital to the daily operations of a legal practice. There have been a number of blogs written about the day in the life of an estate planner or a law clerk working in estates. In…
This blog has been written by Darren Lund, Partner at Fasken LLP In a previous blog, I wrote about the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in Lang-Newlands v Newlands, 2024 ONSC 6285. To briefly summarize, the Newlands case considered a number of issues, but the key issue of interest…
The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario recently hosted an education session on Ontario’s Estate Administration Tax (“EAT”) and the Estate Information Return (“EIR”), presented by a representative of the Ontario Ministry of Finance (“MOF”). I was particularly interested in this session as I wrote about the new online…
This blog has been written by Rahul Sharma, Partner, at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Toronto Joint ownership of property with a right of survivorship is perhaps the most common or popular means by which a couple, for example, owns a home in Ontario. Simply put, “joint with right of survivorship”…