All About Estates

Tag: Trusts

Total 93 Posts

How Separate is “Separate as to Property”?

This blog has been written by Darren Lund a partner at Fasken LLP. Marriage contracts and cohabitation agreements are an increasingly important aspect of estate planning and wealth preservation. They can be used for a number of reasons and in a variety of contexts. Think of the parents wishing to…

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Trustees – it’s time to start gathering information

With 6 weeks until the end of 2023, it is a good time to remind trustees of their obligations in respect of the trusts that they are responsible for managing and administering. Last year, I wrote a blog where I reminded trustees of discretionary trusts of the importance of documenting…

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Failure to plan can leave minor children in “Another World”: Considerations for the Anne Heche estate

Today’s blog is written by Latoya Brown, Articling Student at Fasken LLP. The tragic death of soap opera actress of “Another World” Anne Heche, was an unexpected loss for her fans and family. She succumbed to her injuries on August 11, 2022, a week following a car accident that left…

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How Much Should You Leave To Your Children And When?

This week, I had a great opportunity to sit down with Andy Jeffery, Vice President, Family Office Advisory, at Northwood Family Office,[1] to discuss a question frequently raised by clients; “How much should I leave my children and when?” Below we distill our discussion into five questions, providing you with…

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It’s That “Tax Talk” Time of Year….Again

As the calendar rolls into March and tax slips arrive in the mail, I thought that I would remind blog readers about a provision in the Income Tax Act (the “ITA”) that I think is one of the more insidious ones, namely the so-called “corporate attribution rule” in subsection 74.4…

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Valuation of Interests in Discretionary trusts and Family Law

These days, it is quite common to find intergenerational wealth transfer to consist of property held in a discretionary family trust whose beneficiaries may or may not have been in marital relationships at the time of the time the trusts were created. A siginifcant number of legal and financials issues…

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As You’re ‘Checking Your List’, Don’t Forget Your Year End Tax Planning

As the holidays approach, so too does December 31st or the end of a calendar year.  This date can mean different things to different people.  For those in the business of estate and tax planning, the spectre of December 31st often leads to calls from clients who are looking to:…

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The Secret Language of Estates, and Inflation

Estates clerks and lawyers “speak” their own language.  We use acronyms or initialisms[1] such as CAET, EIR, RCP, ARI, AET, GRE, POA and COLA.  We use abbreviations like Benys and T’ees, and we draw triangles.  The idea for this blog was born when reflecting on having to interpret a lawyer’s…

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Considerations When Trustees are Involved in Transactions

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…

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INSURANCE TRACKING SHARES

If a taxpayer owns shares of a corporation and passes away, he or she is deemed to have disposed of their shareholding at fair market value (“FMV”) unless a tax-free rollover is applied (e.g., rollover to a surviving spouse). The disposition of shares may cause a tax liability. In the…

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