Estate Administration

Total 493 Posts

Requirement to File a Tax Return Expanded

As written previously, the requirement to file a tax return for trusts has been expanded. Thanks to new legislation, there are now exceptions to the exception to file. Generally speaking, a trust (other than a trust established by law or judgment) that is resident in Canada must file a tax return, unless the trust had been in existence for less than three months at the end of the year or….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Administration, In the News, Investments, Tax Issues, Trusts

Art and Fair Market Value

[caption id="attachment_7127" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Sir Frederick Grant Banting, 1891 – 1941, The Lab[/caption] Fall art auction week in Toronto is just past. The biggest is run by Heffel Fine Art Auction. The results for the two Heffel auctions illustrate the challenge of determining fair market value in art. The auction catalogue listed a number of estates and charitable foundation as consignors. Clearly art valuation issues affect estate planning. Heffel offered 135….

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Estate Administration, Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Uncategorized

Not So Fast – Who Controls the Body?

“He knows where the bodies are buried” is a throwaway line from Orson Wells’ cinematic masterpiece, Citizen Kane. That line soon took on a life of its own and entered the cultural vernacular. In the world of estates, a more frequent problem is not finding the bodies but deciding where to bury the bodies. In Miller v. Miller, 2016 ONSC 6625, Justice Myers of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Funeral Planning, Succession Planning, Wills

Have You Considered Your RESP in Your Estate Plan?

This Blog was written by: Alicia Godin, Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotiatrust A Registered Education Savings Plan (an “RESP”), is a type of tax deferred savings plan that parents, grandparents and other adults can open to save for the cost of a beneficiary’s post-secondary education. The beneficiary of an RESP is often a child or grandchild. I have recently had a number of questions about what happens to an RESP….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, RESP

Out-of-Date? You Could be Out of Luck!

          This Blog was written by: Emily Racine It is a hard truth that after a client confirms they have a will done, the first comment to follow is often “but it was done years ago”. The reality is that even when clients have a will, often it has not been reviewed in many years. With the ever-changing landscape of estate law, this neglect can have….

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Estate Administration, Succession Planning, Tax Issues, Wills

Unexpected Death? Apply for an Extension

Death is difficult to control. It has also proved impossible to avoid. However, married spouses are given greater options than the rest of us – they can choose to inherit their deceased partner’s estate under the Succession Law Reform Act or the Family Law Act. When a married spouse dies without a will, the default is that his or her estate will be distributed pursuant to the rules set out….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Executors, Property, Spouse
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