Robert and Signe McMichael, the namesake of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, were savvy art collectors who made some painful philanthropic and estate planning mistakes. Visionary Collectors Starting in 1955, when they were in their early 30s, they started buying landscape paintings by the Group of Seven and…
Tag: Philanthropy
Total 11 Posts
Recently, I wrote about the gifting of cash or assets during one’s lifetime as an alternative method of distributing your wealth (beyond what you need to live on comfortably) and possibly avoid taxes (probate, income etc.) at time of death. I suggested that your heirs could use the funds in…
Assume Mr. X died in early 2016. Mr. X’s estate appears to meet all of the requirements to be a graduated rate estate (“GRE”), except the 1st return has not been filed as yet to formally designate it a GRE. The estate made a charitable donation in early 2017; at…
If you are like most individuals at this time of the year, you probably don’t give too much thought to your taxes and perhaps putting it off until the filing deadline for tax returns approaches being in the spring of each year for most. For those who are beneficiaries of…
In 2008, Canada Revenue Agency changed the valuation rules for donations of existing life insurance policies to registered charities. Previously, policy donations were receipted for cash surrender value, which many policies don’t contain. Now, policy donations are receipted for the appraised fair market value (FMV), which may exist regardless of…
In many cases, a deceased person will include charitable bequests in their will. The executor(s) of the estate may not, however, be in a position to honour the bequest in a timely fashion due to the lack of available estate funds on hand. In not all cases will this action (or inaction) frustrate the completion of the final personal tax return.
A recent news report by the Wall Street Journal details the latest turn in a high profile litigation regarding the multi-billion dollar estate of Hong Kong heiress Nina Wang.
John Hodgson, Q.C. remembered
Regardless of your level of wealth, asset-based philanthropy should be conducted free of public pressure.
When making charitable gifts by Will, many donors wish to ensure that their gift has a long-term meaningful impact that will enable charitable activities to be carried out long after their deaths.