Wills, Trusts & Estates
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October 28, 2024
Family violence against kids, youths and seniors hits highwater mark in 2023: Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada has painted a troubling statistical picture of the trends in family violence that were reported to police last year.
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October 25, 2024
Grey divorces: What’s unique about them? Part two
In the first of this two-part series, we covered some of the bread-and-butter legal aspects of that have to be covered in any divorce but may take more prominence when the spouses are older (see below for link to part one). These topics include the impact of any domestic contract and whether both spouses have legal capacity.
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October 24, 2024
Estate freezes: An icebreaker
Parents who run a family business often wish to pass that business and its proceeds on to their children. However, simply transferring the shares of the business to their children through their wills is often costly, chiefly due to the tax liabilities incurred by the estate. Several tax planning strategies have been developed to mitigate these tax liabilities. One of these strategies is known as an “estate freeze.”
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October 21, 2024
Will-making power may be delegated under new legislation
Earlier this year, New Brunswick made history by becoming the first province in Canada to enact legislation that permits the delegation of the testamentary power to make, amend or revoke a will. The Supported Decision-Making and Representation Act, SNB 2022, c 60, New Brunswick’s new legislative scheme for substitute decision-making, gives the Court of King’s Bench in that province the power to authorize the delegation of the testamentary power for both wills and beneficiary designations.
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October 17, 2024
The succession rights of unborn children: Children conceived posthumously
With the advancement of technology and new reproductive systems, sperm, eggs and embryos can all be frozen and used later in life. More and more people are now availing of these technologies to be able to conceive later. This would mean assisted reproductive technology can be used to conceive children after a person has passed. Therefore, in addition to posthumous birth, now there are also scenarios involving posthumous conception.
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October 15, 2024
OSFI: Pension plan solvency ratios, share of fully funded pension plans up in 2023-24
The share of underfunded pension plans in Canada at the end of 2023 fell to 11 per cent from 17 per cent in 2022 as the average solvency position of pension plans improved for a third consecutive year, according to the annual report of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).
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October 11, 2024
SCC sheds new light on corporate attribution rules, applies them for first time to bankruptcy cases
The Supreme Court of Canada has for the first time applied the common law corporate attribution doctrine in the bankruptcy and insolvency context while also instructing that the corporate attribution rules are not rigid and must be adapted in varied legal contexts to “purposively, contextually and pragmatically” give effect to the policy goals of the law under which a party seeks to attribute to a corporation the actions, knowledge, state of mind or intent of its directing mind.
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October 10, 2024
OSC proposes enhancing retail investors’ access to long-term illiquid assets
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is seeking public comment on a proposal to permit retail investors to gain exposure to long-term illiquid assets through a new investment fund category.
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October 10, 2024
Canadian Judicial Council rolls out new advisory guidelines for federal judges on their social media use
“Proceed with caution” might sum up, in a nutshell, the latest official advice for judges on their use of social media.
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October 10, 2024
Treatment of trusts in equalization claims
Calculation of an equalization claim under the Family Law Act first requires the value of an individual spouse’s Net Family Property (NFP). Where a spouse is a beneficiary of a trust, there are two key questions to consider while calculating NFP: