Wills, Trusts & Estates
-
May 15, 2024
130-year-old Kingston firm welcomes new associate
After graduating from Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law and articling in Nova Scotia, Sean Davidson is returning to his hometown of Kingston, Ont., to join Cunningham Swan Carty Little & Bonham LLP as an associate on the firm’s general litigation team.
-
May 13, 2024
Alberta needs legislation to confirm power of fiduciaries extend to digital assets: law institute
When a person dies or becomes incapacitated, their money and property often fall under the management of a third-party fiduciary — and the law around that is long-standing and largely settled. But an Alberta-based legal institute is saying the time has come for the provincial government to change its rules on fiduciaries in order to deal with assets in the digital arena.
-
May 10, 2024
Supreme Court of Canada clarifies how to assess compensation for constructive expropriation
The Supreme Court of Canada has explained how to assess compensation payable for constructive expropriation of private land by public authorities in a unanimous decision that reverses a ruling below that pegged what the City of St. John’s owes to a property owner to the land’s prospective market value if it were permitted to be developed for residential use, rather than to its much lower market value as land which is currently zoned “watershed,” with only limited discretionary agriculture, forestry and public utility uses.
-
May 07, 2024
Sweeping national security bill would boost state investigative powers; expand & create crimes, AMPs
The federal government has introduced a sweeping national security bill that would create a publicly accessible “foreign influence transparency” registry; expand the warrant, production and disclosure powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS); affect criminal accused or judicial review applicants seeking access to relevant “information related to international relations, national defence or national security”; expand the current “sabotage” offence; and create new “foreign interference” offences, along with administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of up to $5 million and five years in prison, including for knowingly obstructing the operations of the office of a proposed new “Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.”
-
May 07, 2024
Transmission of U.S. citizenship: Blessing or curse?
Children of U.S. citizens often can go their whole lives without knowing that they actually are — already — U.S. citizens themselves. To individuals in this situation, finding out you are already a U.S. citizen can be like winning the lottery or your worst nightmare. U.S. citizenship comes with certain rights and privileges but also with certain obligations. Those who want to divest themselves from these obligations can do so but may be frustrated with how lengthy the process of renouncing or relinquishing U.S. citizenship can be.
-
May 02, 2024
New independent watchdog would assess & report how Ottawa carries out its modern treaty obligations
Ottawa says it will create an independent oversight body, led by a new “Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation” who reports to Parliament and whose role will be “to work to hold the Government of Canada accountable for its modern treaty obligations and advance key priorities.”
-
May 02, 2024
New partner joins Dentons Vancouver
Raphael Tachie joined Dentons as a partner in the firm’s national tax group.
-
April 30, 2024
Ottawa unveils first 2024 budget bill, but doesn’t include boost to capital gains inclusion rate
The minority Liberal government says it hopes to expedite into law a newly proposed 660-page omnibus budget bill, which would enact many measures announced in this month’s federal budget, but not the government’s controversial proposal to tax capital gains at a higher rate.
-
April 30, 2024
Determining separation in context of s. 43.1, Succession Law Reform Act
On Jan. 1, 2022, section 43.1 of the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA) came into force, which revoked separated spouses’ intestate inheritance rights to their deceased spouse’s estate. In summary, under s. 43.1, a spouse who is separated from a decedent at the time of the decedent’s death can no longer claim a preferential share in their estate in the event of an intestacy.
-
April 29, 2024
WILLS — Undue influence, fraud and mistake — Source of influence — Family member
Appeal by Olsen from order directing formal proof of will of their deceased mother. The parties, McKay and Olsen, were siblings who were litigating the validity of the will of their late mother. The deceased prepared a will in 2012, dividing her estate equally between the two siblings.