Today’s blog was written by Pritika Deepak, Associate at Fasken LLP This is the last part of a three-part blog series which provides a broad overview of some of the tax implications to consider, with respect to certain assets held at death. Part I, which addresses RRSPs can be found…
Category: Estate Administration
Total 421 Posts
Estates law doesn’t typically make the news, so my attention is always piqued when I see a headline about a Will. A recent criminal case featuring a fraudulent Will made front-page news, and serves as a reminder of what a powerful document a Will is, the need to carefully plan…
The cy-près doctrine It is common practice to leave a gift to a charity in your will. However, the charity that the testator wished to support may not have been named properly in the will (leading to confusion about who was supposed to benefit from the funds), or may have…
Where the evidence establishes that the testator executed the will in accordance with the requisite formalities (e.g., signed in the presence of two witnesses), a rebuttable presumption arises that the testator knew and approved the contents of the will.
Today’s blog is written by Jessica J. Butler, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. Italian cinema legend Gina Lollobrigida passed away at the age of 95 in January 2023. Known by fans as ‘La Lollo’, she starred in over 60 films which included the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sean Connery….
Today’s blog was written by Christopher Cook, Student-At-Law at de VRIES LITIGATION LLP In some common law jurisdictions, there exists a fascinating (but rarely applied) legal doctrine called “patent mistake.” This doctrine applies in the context of applications for probate. When asked to probate a will, the court’s task is…
Going through the records of a deceased person is an important task for the executor and can be a huge undertaking, particularly when the individual held on to everything. Sometimes, a search of the deceased’s records reveals surprising new assets. What should an executor do when they discover evidence that…
The Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) decision in Gefen Estate v. Gefen is an interesting read which provides insight into a variety of topics including mutual wills and mutual will agreements, secret trusts, the doctrine of unconscionable procurement, and more! By way of background, Elias and Henia Gefen were married…
For my last blog post, I discussed the potential financial value of an individual’s “personalty” and clauses in wills governing such personalty. While an individual’s more traditional assets may include bank accounts, real estate or vehicles, there may also be some other personal items (e.g. collections) that may have significant…
This blog has been written by Sandra Arsenault, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP Welcome back! This is Part 2 of a two-part series on unusual assets and estate administration. For part one, please see my blog post here. Typical assets in an estate consist of real property, automobiles, corporations, investments,…