Before clients get caught up in the holidays, urge them to start tax planning.
The Department of Finance is currently considering input from professional bodies in the tax and estate planning community.
To end the year we’re bringing you our Top 3 Financial Terms of 2015. Beginning this week, and running through the week of December 21, we’ll post a package of material including coverage and analysis of some of the most important issues of the year.
Why anyone can view certain clients’ wills
More than half of Canadians don’t have a will, and 61% say they never spoke to their parents about estate planning, says the Ontario Bar Association.
One of the first responsibilities of any executor is to make funeral arrangements for the deceased. But what if the will doesn’t mention funeral arrangements? Who decides what happens at the funeral—and at what cost? Wide discretion Mary-Jane Wilson, partner at Wilson Rasmussen LLP in Surrey, B.C., says executors have final say on all decisions […]
Client profile Brenda Paulson* was driving her ailing father, 92-year-old Adam Bodenheimer, to a hospital in Ajax, Ont., when they were struck by a truck running a red light. Adam was pronounced dead on the scene, while Brenda died in hospital 6 days later. It didn’t take long for two estate battles to erupt. *This […]
What happens when a person dies alone? A haunting New York Times article investigates this question by chronicling the story of George Bell, a 72-year-old man who died in 2014. Bell lived alone, and had few relatives and friends. His body was discovered by police after a neighbour, who’d smelled the odor of death from […]
Clients can use their wills to make designations
Valuing an estate for probate used to be relatively simple in Ontario: executors entered the total value of the estate on the probate application, signed an accompanying affidavit stating the valuation was correct, and that was usually that. Not any more. As of January 1, Ontario executors (known as estate trustees) must file an Estate […]