All About Estates

Category: In the News

Total 257 Posts

Gone. Now what?

Under the Declaration of Death Act, the court will make the order declaring that an individual has died if the individual disappeared in circumstances of peril or the individual has been absent for seven years.

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Frontotemporal Dementia

While we all may be aware of the dementia crisis that is increasingly heading our way, it often takes a celebrity to truly raise the issue and increase our general awareness levels. I am referring to FTD or frontotemporal dementia and Bruce Willis’ recent diagnosis. Dementia is a syndrome describing…

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Royalty and World-Wide Assets

This Blog was written by: Alicia Mossington (Godin), Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotia Wealth Management  The British royal family has been in the news frequently over the past 18 months: from the deaths of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II to the crowning of King Charles and the release of Prince…

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Will The Vacant Home Tax Impact Use of the Principal Residence Exemption; Estate Planning Considerations

  Overview The Ontario government has enabled municipalities to enact a tax on vacant residential units in their regions (Granted under Part IX.1 of the Municipal Act).[1] Each municipality has to pass a By-Law stating the tax rate and conditions of vacancy that, if met, make a property subject to…

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ELDER ABUSE: A GROWING PROBLEM IN AN AGING POPULATION

Today’s blog is co-written by Jennifer Campbell and Sandra Arsenault, Senior Law Clerks in the Private Client Services Group at Fasken. At the beginning of November, we were fortunate enough to attend the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario (ILCO) annual conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  This conference brings together law clerks…

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Royalties She Wrote: Angela Lansbury, Jessica Fletcher and literary executors

This Blog was written by Jane Martin, Scotia Wealth Management The recent passing of Angela Lansbury has me engulfed in an impromptu “Murder She Wrote” festival, and like any good estate planning professional (tell me I am not alone in this), I’ve been thinking about whether fictional Jessica Fletcher had her…

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Goodbye Queen Elizabeth II

As I sat down to write my Monday blog, which was going to be on Bill 7, ( the ridiculous plan to have alternate level of care [ALC] patients transferred out of the hospital to anyplace, anywhere or pay $400 daily) instead, I decided to pay tribute to the late…

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What If… Black Panther Made a Will? – Lessons in Ensuring Your Common-Law Spouse Inherits if You Die Without a Will

Today’s blog was written by Jessica Butler, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. Chadwick Boseman’s death came as a surprise to the world when he passed away in August 2020, at age 43 from colon cancer.  Chadwick was best known for his role in Black Panther – the first superhero movie…

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Who is a “Spouse”?

A ‘Playboy’ Millionaire’s Legacy The estate litigation of dismembered multi-millionaire Gang Yuan has once again made headlines. Last Friday, the British Columbia Court of Appeal denied leave to appeal by one of five mothers to his children who sought to establish that she was a “spouse” to Mr. Yuan. Mr….

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Update on MAiD: Mental Disorder as a Sole Underlying Medical Condition

In Canada, the law no longer restricts medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people whose death is reasonably foreseeable: as of March 17, 2023, people with a mental disorder as a sole underlying medical condition (MD-SUMC) will be eligible for MAiD.

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