Opening a joint account with your child is not a step to be taken lightly. There are undeniably good estate planning reasons for owning property jointly with a beneficiary, since…
In some ways, outliving your beneficiaries is a good problem to have. It’s usually a sign that you’ve lived a long (and hopefully healthy) life, but it should also be…
Testators should expect some blowback from their disinherited kids when they decide to split their estate unequally between their children. Whatever the state of their recent relationship, the death of…
There’s nothing that blurs the lines between personal and corporate property quite like a family business. And when the founders die, leaving behind their feuding children, it only complicates matters…
It’s hard to think of a better recipe for an estate fight than a deceased with an $80-million fortune and skepticism about estate planning. According to a Brantford Expositor story,…
Legal advice is a must for testators with complex family dynamics. Second (or third) marriages, stepfamilies and common-law relationships are no longer the novelty they once were in Canada. And…
When is a gift not a gift? When you can’t prove it’s what the giver intended. Disputed gifts delivered during the lifetime of the deceased are among the most common…
A lost will is usually as good as no will at all. When the original version of a will can not be found after the testator’s death, the courts typically…
When it comes to powers of attorney, many hands often make heavy work, especially when siblings are involved. Considering the immense responsibility that comes with an appointment under a POA,…
Testamentary ambiguity can arise at any time. In an ideal world, we would all make our wills on the day we die, so that every one of the choices we…
