All About Estates

Category: Separation

Total 15 Posts

Marriage Contracts Are Cross-Border Issues Too!

This blog has been written by Darren Lund, partner at Fasken LLP Cross-border estate planning is undoubtedly a complex affair. When clients have assets in a foreign jurisdiction[1], are resident or have citizenship in a foreign jurisdiction, or wish to benefit individuals who are resident in a foreign jurisdiction, planners…

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COTTRELL A MUST-READ FOR VALUING THE INTEREST OF A BENEFICIARY IN A DISCRETIONARY TRUST

This blog has been written by Darren Lund, a partner at Fasken LLP In Ontario, trust law and family law have for some time taken very different approaches to valuing the interest of a beneficiary in a discretionary family trust. For trust lawyers, a beneficiary’s interest in a discretionary family…

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Standing to Bring a Trust Claim – When You Need to Sit Down

There are a few occasions when you want someone who is not you to have as much money as possible. The first situation is when you are a beneficiary of their estate. The second situation is when you seeking an equalization payment under the Family Law Act. In both situations,…

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Does your Will reflect your wealth transfer wishes?

Today’s post was written by Diana Leopardi – Estate and Trust Consultant at Scotiatrust. What can be worse than having a Will that does not reflect your wealth transfer wishes…that is, not having a Will at all! Suppose you have a Will in place, it is prudent to ensure that…

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Lack of Financial Disclosure Comes at a Significant Financial Cost

Today’s Blog Post was written by Gabrielle Arbic-Lloyd, Student-at-Law at Fasken LLP In February, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered one spouse to pay the other more than one million dollars in costs in addition to spousal and child support. So what motivated the Court to order this spouse to…

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Valuation of Interests in Discretionary trusts and Family Law

These days, it is quite common to find intergenerational wealth transfer to consist of property held in a discretionary family trust whose beneficiaries may or may not have been in marital relationships at the time of the time the trusts were created. A siginifcant number of legal and financials issues…

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Are Domestic Contracts Becoming More Popular?

When I explain to people whom I’m meeting for the first time that I’m a lawyer and that among my areas of practice I draft domestic contracts, I’m often met with a response to the effect of “You mean, like, a pre-nup?” I can confirm that a “pre-nup” is, in…

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Frivolous Notices of Objection Can be Struck Out

Counsel faced with responding to frivolous objections to an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee may wish to consider rule 25.11 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 25.11 allows the court to strike out (all or part of) a pleading, without leave to amend, on the…

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When is a Dividend Not a Dividend?

In Trower v. the Queen, 2019 TCC 77, the Company was privately held by the taxpayer and her spouse (49% and 51% respectively) until the taxpayer ceased to be shareholder in the Fall of 2016, pursuant to a separation agreement between the spouses. The company prepared and filed a T5…

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Separation Agreements, Support Obligations, and Summary Judgment

Separation agreements commonly include a requirement that one of the spouses maintains a life insurance policy in favour of the other in order to “secure” support payments (either child support or spousal support). It is equally as common to find out, on the death of the supposedly insured spouse, that…

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