Wills, Trusts & Estates
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June 20, 2024
Inheriting assets: Balancing wealth and family dynamics
A recent legal decision surrounding the death of the founder of the prominent Onni Group, DeCotiis v. DeCotiis Estate, 2023 BCSC 2163, highlighted how important it is for families to use diverse planning strategies to safeguard assets and to keep out of expensive legal disputes.
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June 14, 2024
2 Pushor Mitchell articling students promoted to associates
Pushor Mitchell LLP recently announced the addition of two new associates to its team. Leah Sorge and Colin Grimard were both called to the B.C. bar in 2024 and completed their articling at Pushor Mitchell.
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June 14, 2024
Providing value to the difficult client | Jacob Murad
Many lawyers (myself included) over the course of any practice, run into issues withdrawing from representing and terminating a difficult client. (A recent example of this was when Peter Nygard’s defence lawyer asked to be removed as his counsel just before his sentencing for sexual assault, reportedly due to a “breakdown and loss of confidence in the solicitor-client relationship.”)
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June 13, 2024
New asset freezes, entry bans & export prohibitions target Russian war of aggression against Ukraine
Canada has aimed new sanctions and export prohibitions at participants in Russia’s military-industrial complex, in a co-ordinated move with other countries on the first day of the G7’s three-day summit in Italy.
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June 13, 2024
Liberal government unveils in Commons ‘2030 Nature Strategy’ and proposed Nature Accountability Act
The minority Liberal government’s newly proposed Nature Accountability Act would hold Ottawa “accountable to make progress” (but not via an enforceable legal mechanism) toward the goal of protecting at least 30 per cent of Canada’s lands and waters by 2030, says federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault.
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June 13, 2024
Business income within a TFSA is taxable, confirms Federal Court of Appeal
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal of tax reassessments where the appellant argued that a tax-free savings account (TFSA) trust for a business should be tax-exempt because that is the case for a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP).
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June 13, 2024
Federal government announces expansion of early retirement eligibility for some front-line workers
Ottawa has announced plans to introduce legislative changes this fall to expand early pension eligibility for specific front-line workers, including federal border services officers and federal and territorial firefighters.
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June 13, 2024
Wealth advising for the future: The new paradigm
I am an estate lawyer. As such, how many times have I said under my breath as my clients have exited the boardroom after an often lengthy, revealing, intense and always interesting meeting: “I don’t need a law degree — I need a psychology degree!”
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June 13, 2024
The Leviathan must be stopped | Trevor R. Parry
The Leviathan was a biblical sea monster that devoured all. Christian theologians associated it with the sin of envy, and the English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes used the name for the title of his seminal work. Hobbes argued that a social contract where the individual surrenders personal liberty to an absolute sovereign in return for security is better than chaos. It seems the Trudeau government has decided Canada should be home to this beast.
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June 12, 2024
Saskatchewan regulator details strategic plan progress for 2023
Saskatchewan’s law society made strides last year in rolling out parts of its current Strategic Plan — particularly in promoting diversity and equality, ensuring the competence of new lawyers and increasing access to justice for the incarcerated.