There is renewed discussion on whether Canada will become another jurisdiction where specific gift or estate taxes will be imposed on inheritances. There is speculation that the discussion will lead to something concrete as early as next week’s Federal Budget. In the meantime, there are situations where inheritances can come…
Category: Estate Administration and Probate Applications
Total 83 Posts
In the blog posted by Maureen Berry on October 9, 2020, my fellow clerks and I wrote about the welcome changes that were introduced that would allow for applications for certificates of appointment of estate trustee (the “Probate Application”) to be filed electronically. It has now been six months since…
Practitioners and clients alike have come to realize that there can be numerous legal challenges to administering a testator’s digital assets, including, among them, ambiguous or restrictive privacy legislation. For most Canadian provinces,[1] the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) does not appear to grant executors, trustees, or…
Of all the questions I am asked about the administration of estates, the ones that come up the most frequently are: “what is probate?”; “how do I know if I need probate?”; and “what’s involved in applying for probate?” Herein – the answers.
The law in Canada is not static – it evolves and changes to meet our society’s needs through incremental changes to the common law (i.e. the application and interpretation of the law through the courts) and through legislative changes. One recent change to Ontario’s laws was made through the Smarter…
Acting as an estate trustee can be a difficult job. It is often made more difficult when you have to work with a sibling. While the types of disputes co-estate trustees can have with one another are seemingly infinite, one common fight is over valuing an estate asset. Valuing estate…
Both alter ego and joint partner trusts (the trust) allow a settlor to transfer capital assets into the trust on a tax-deferred basis if the following conditions are met: The trust is created after 1999. The settlor is at least 65 at the time of creation. In the case of…
One of the duties of an estate trustee is to respond to litigation brought against the estate. The estate trustee is also the only person with the authority to start litigation on behalf of the estate. Because estates are not legal entities such as corporations, the party to the litigation…
In my blog Probate Points to Remember – A.K.A. Names and More – All About Estates of October 16, 2020, I shared from my list of “Probate Points to Remember”. I provided tips regarding how to name individuals, including the deceased, executors and beneficiaries, such as when using “also known…
As I have prepared applications for certificates of appointment of estate trustee (“Probate Applications”) over the years, I have kept a list that I call “Probate Points to Remember”. The purpose of this list is to remind me of how I have handled certain practical matters on Probate Applications. In…