All About Estates

Category: Insurance

Total 27 Posts

Unjust Enrichment – The Supreme Court’s Naughty List

They see you when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake. They’re ready to decide if you’ve been unjustly enriched, so be good for goodness sake. The Supreme Court of Canada is coming to town. The Supreme Court of Canada in their festive/ceremonial robes [Not pictured – Santa Claus]  …

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Life Insurance and Contingent Ownership

Ownership of assets into ‘joint tenancy with right of survivorship” is a mechanism of ownership transfer commonly used for estate planning to address such issues as probate fee and tax avoidance. Recently, this blog site very capably addressed the issues surrounding “joint tenancy” of life insurance in particular (“Life Insurance…

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Life Insurance Joint Tenants[1]

I think it is fair to say that joint ownership of property[2] is one of the most commonly used strategies for property ownership in the context of developing an estate plan.  Like any form of partnership, there are many issues to consider in jointly owning property.  In the context of…

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Transfer of corporate-owned life insurance

It is not uncommon to see corporate owned life insurance transferred to a shareholder particularly when the company is being sold. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked to comment on a set of facts and their response was no surprise given the relatively new rules in this area of…

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Under what Circumstances can an Insurer Deny Payment of a Death Benefit to a Beneficiary under a Life Insurance Policy?

Depending on the specific terms of an insurance contract, under certain conditions, an insurer may adjust a death benefit under a life insurance policy, or deny payment altogether. For example, if an insured person commits suicide within two years after the day the policy or coverage is issued or last…

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Gift returned receipt required

The Canada Revenue Agency was asked to speak to the implications of a gift return and their response included some commentary on the impact on the donor. The situation the CRA was asked to consider involved an individual taxpayer who, in 1981, gave a whole life insurance policy to a…

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Tontine – an ‘old’ annuity idea re-visited

As people live longer their cash requirements can increase exponentially. My Blog colleague, Audrey Miller, recently told me that, in Ontario, publically funded Nursing home expenses for a private room start at $30,000 per year and private retirement residences are much more expensive. There are other potential cash requirements such as the expense of personal care…

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Estate beneficiary of an inter-vivos trust

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked if an estate that received property from an inter-vivos trust that is a life insurance policyholder would be a graduated rate estate (GRE) if the estate received property as beneficiary?

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ESTATE PLANNING REFRESHER: TRANSFER OF LIFE INSURANCE

From time to time, we are asked about the tax consequences of transferring life insurance policies particularly in the context of some common (or not-so common) estate and trust planning scenarios involving transfers. As most people know, when a transfer of ownership of a life insurance policy occurs, the transferor…

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Spousal trust and life insurance

The Canada Revenue Agency was recently asked if income or capital from a proposed spousal trust that was to be used to pay life insurance premiums on a spouse’s life would disqualify the trust from ever being a spousal trust eligible for rollover of property upon creation of the trust.

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