All About Estates

Category: Wills

Total 424 Posts

Dear Parents of Young Children, please don’t delay your will planning because you can’t choose a guardian for your minor children

This blog has been written by Karen La Caprara, Counsel at Fasken LLP When I speak with parents of young children who don’t have wills in place, the most common reason I hear for their delinquency is not that they’re too busy, that it’s too expensive or that they don’t…

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Who holds the burden of proof when undue influence is claimed?

In the estates context, undue influence is often alleged in order to challenge a will or an inter vivos transfer of property, often a family home or cottage. When a party in a legal dispute alleges that there was undue influence which party bears the burden of proving (or disproving)…

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The Buy-Sell Agreement At Death

Estate and corporate advisors often suggest to shareholders to enter into a shareholders’ agreement. The shareholders’ agreement is essentially a contract where the shareholders plan in advance for certain contingencies or future events for which they are in agreement as to the outcome. Essentially, the shareholders’ agreement governs the shareholders’…

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The Next Succession? Lessons from a family estate gone wrong…

Today’s blog was written by Karen La Caprara, Counsel, at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. This being my first All About Estates blog, I thought I would make it a personal one. So, as an introduction, I decided that I would share my family experience that contributed to my decision to…

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When Parent and Child have a Joint Bank Account: Who Receives Funds upon Parent’s Death?

This blog has been written by Lily MacLeod [Associate] at Fasken LLP It is common for an elderly parent to set up a joint bank account with their adult child. This enables the child to help manage the parent’s finances freely and efficiently (either as the parent’s attorney for property…

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When exercising discretion, what factors should a Trustee of a discretionary trust take into account?

Maddi Thomas, Associate Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Where a trust holds non-liquid assets that are to be distributed amongst multiple beneficiaries, how can the trustee ensure that their use of discretion was as fair, equitable, and diplomatic as possible? On a related note, when will a court interfere with a…

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Gamers are Letting off Some “Steam” After Learning that Purchased Games are Not Transferrable on Death

Pictured: A screenshot of a discussion between a Steam user and a Steam Support representative that has taken the internet by storm. Usually, I get my trusts and estates-related news from legal blogs, LinkedIn or emails from colleagues. So, you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a pretty…

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Equalizing an Estate Where One of More Children are U.S. Persons and Planning Strategies Where There Are U.S. Beneficiaries; Part II

  Happy Friday, everyone. As a reminder, this is Part II of a three-part blog series. Part I can be found at the following link: Equalizing an Estate Where One of More Children are U.S. Persons and Planning Strategies Where There Are U.S. Beneficiaries; Part I – All About Estates…

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