4x $100 million+

[caption id="attachment_9581" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Looking south to the U of T Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, image by Weiss/Manfredi[/caption]   In 11 weeks between March 25 and June 3, 2019 three $100 million dollar charitable donations were announced in Ontario. On February 13th, McGill University in Montreal announced a $200 million donation. These are enormous sums, and this unprecedented donation cluster is just the beginning of bigger things to come. It’s….

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Estate Donations, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

The French Elvis and Instagram

People readily post about their lives on social media, including where they travel to or where they eat (sometimes on a daily basis).  Celebrities, for example, use social media platforms (such as Instagram and Twitter) to connect with their fans and keep them posted of the fabulous lives of the rich and famous.  But, social media doesn’t stop at just connecting people.  More and more, we see social media posts….

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Uncategorized

FAMILY TRUSTS AND ALLOCATIONS OF PROCEEDS FROM SALE

Recently, I encountered a scenario where the trustees of a family trust were planning an allocation of proceeds from a share sale transaction to the beneficiaries of trust using the lifetime capital gains exemption but it appeared that the allocated amounts would physically end up in the hands of other individuals including the trustees of the trust. It appeared in fact that certain beneficiaries would only see their allocation on….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Investments, Tax Issues, Trustee, Trusts, Uncategorized

Ending Loneliness, A Spare Bedroom and A Shortage of Affordable Housing

June is Senior’s month in Canada. As you know we have more seniors living than young people under age 15 and even though numbers are high, seniors often find themselves alone and unfortunately for many, they are lonely.  I have  previously blogged about the appointment of the British Minister for Loneliness and the high health care cost associated with feeling lonely.  In today’s blog I want to highlight a wonderful initiative….

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Caregiving

The Test for Capacity to Give Evidence and Special Accommodations

Section 16 of the Canada Evidence Act (“CEA”)[i] sets out the test for capacity to give evidence: 16(1) If a proposed witness is a person of fourteen years of age or older whose mental capacity is challenged, the court shall, before permitting the person to give evidence, conduct an inquiry to determine: Whether the person understands the nature of an oath or a solemn affirmation; and Whether the person is….

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Capacity Law

Strategies for Distributions for Young Beneficiaries

This Blog was written by: Daniel Watts, Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotiatrust I wrote in a previous post about determining an appropriate age for a beneficiary to receive an inheritance (Choosing an Appropriate Age for Young Beneficiaries to Inherit, February 7, 2019). Below, we take that idea a bit further by considering additional approaches rather than a simple, single distribution of all the funds when a beneficiary attains a certain….

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Estate Planning, Trustee, Trusts, Uncategorized, Wills
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