A person’s house is often their most valuable assets – both monetarily and emotionally. As a result, testators tend to put a lot of thought into who, and how, they wish to leave their house. However, as is always the case, best laid plans often go awry. One example of this, explored in the 2022 Court of Appeal of Ontario decision Barsoski Estate v Wesley, is when it is unclear whether the will gifts someone with a life interest in the house or a licence to use the property.
With real estate prices soaring, it’s no surprise that property is often at the heart of estate litigation. Certificates of pending litigation (CPLs) are a common tool used to ensure that a disputed property is not sold before the litigation is resolved. If the parties agree to remove a CPL…
Can an estate claim a loss for tax purposes if the estate sells the property for less than what it was valued for at time of death? Hard to imagine such circumstances in this current real estate environment but in the unlikely event it does occur, what are the rules?…
As a Toronto native, I couldn’t help but listen to rapper Drake’s highly-anticipated new album Certified Lover Boy, which he released just a few weeks ago. In fact, it has been enjoying record-breaking streaming numbers from music fans around the world, amassing a staggering 153 million global Spotify streams in…
This Blog was written by Suzanna Walter, Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management There have been many articles written about the dramatic increase in real estate values in Canada. This real estate boom has implications for executors’ administering estates. Maureen Berry in her article Non-Resident Beneficiaries and Canadian…
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…
The 2020 U.S. election is over and the votes have been tabulated, and in some counties the votes have even been tabulated more than once. Unless there is some Republican wild card waiting to be plucked out of the proverbial magic hat, then Joe Biden will be inaugurated president of…
CRA will allow post-mortem pipeline transactions to continue, which will allow individuals to avoid double tax on disposition of certain assets.
In Ontario, the Family Law Act (“FLA”) regulates the division of property and the availability of spousal support on separation or death.
