Directly designating a charity as the beneficiary of a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or registered retirement income fund (RRIF) has a number of advantages, but also a risk. A direct designation gift is arranged by naming one or more charities on the RRSP/RRIF plan documents. After the death of…
The background in Quinn vs Carrigan is well known to estate and family law litigators as the parties have been involved in extensive litigation, including two trials and two appeals. The first trial and its subsequent appeal, which focused on the issue of who is a “spouse” pursuant to the…
I was recently asked about whether, and when, an attorney for property can make charitable gifts on behalf of a grantor. The answer depends in part on whether the grantor of the power of attorney (the “POA”) is capable of managing property at the time the gift is made. While…
In 2012 Justice Tausendfreund found a deceased had made a promise to bequeath his farm and cottage to his grandsons provided they worked on the properties for him which the grandfather did not do. After trial Justice Tausendfreund ordered the properties be conveyed to the grandsons in fulfilment of that…
‘Hot-tubbing’ (also known as ‘concurrent evidence’) is a practice that has become popular in Australian courts and has recently been adopted by English courts and only very recently by Canadian courts (Antonia Croake and Louise Mallon, Commercial Litigation Newsletter, October 2013 ; Ruth Corbin, Advocates Journal Spring 2014). The technique…
I get a steady flow of inquiries about donating funds from registered retirement income funds or RRIFs. The value of RRIFs has grown through careful saving and market gains, and occasionally these funds represent surplus wealth. Some RRIF holders resent the requirement to take steadily increasing annual withdrawals from their…
As an executor you may be tasked with organizing the deceased’s records and may wonder in what form and how long should those records be kept. The Canada Revenue Agency recently weighed in on the issue in a technical interpretation. In their view, every person carrying on business and every…
In a recent blog post entitled “Things Lawyers Know,” I laughed out loud when I read #13: “Lawyers are word, not number people. If their fee went up 10%, few lawyers would know how much extra they received.” Math often comes into play in an estates litigation practice, particularly in…
Today’s Blog was written by Katie Ionson, Associate at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP In the right circumstances, charitable remainder trusts (“CRT”s) can be a chance to have your cake and eat it too. CRTs can be testamentary or inter vivos trusts. Generally, the settlor and/or someone close to the settlor…
Clock-drawing has become one of the standard cognitive screening tools used around the world. How did this particular test achieve such popularity and why is it so useful? Originally, the clock-drawing test was cited in a leading Neurology textbook as a means of specifically assessing parietal lobe function in the…
