Is that a life interest or a license to occupy?
August 12, 2022 By Brian Babcock Another reason to be careful about the drafting of your will. THE ISSUE Sometimes people making a will (a “testator”) want to make sure that a friend or family member has a place to live following the death triggering the provisions of the will. It is also not uncommon […]
Family Cottage Succession: A Dream or A Nightmare Take Two
August 5, 2022 By Brian Babcock About a year ago, we posted an article entitled Family Cottage Succession: A Dream or A Nightmare?. That article dealt with the issues that could arise from a simple brother-sister dispute when two buildings were constructed on one lot. We concluded the article with the tagline “don’t let your […]
May I Take That Back?
August 1, 2022 By Brian Babcock If you make a gift, whether to a trust or an individual, even a family member, you cannot simply take it back without consent. THE ISSUE There is a distinction in law between a gift, which is absolute, and a resulting trust by which legal title is transferred, but […]
Can a Suicide Note be a Will?
May 13, 2022 By Brian Babcock IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE ARE EXPERIENCING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND MAY BE SUICIDAL, SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IMMEDIATELY. HEALTH ISSUES ARE BEYOND OUR SCOPE OF WORK, AND EVEN THE BEST LEGAL HELP IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN YOUR HEALTH. The short answer is “yes it can”, which is a […]
A Trustee’s Discretion is Not Absolute
May 8, 2022 By Brian Babcock Unfortunately, family members do not always get along, and this may affect the administration of your estate. What happens if this leads to trustees of your estate abusing their power? The traditional approach to reviewing duty of a discretionary trustee is to consider whether and when they should exercise […]
Not Every Good Cause is a Charitable Purpose
May 8, 2022 By Brian Babcock Charitable trusts are major exceptions to the rule that a trust must have a person or persons as beneficiaries. A charitable trust also receives favourable tax treatment, and is exempt from rules about accumulating income or holding property in perpetuity. We have discussed purpose trusts generally before, but a […]
Marriage, Separation, and Your Estate Plan
April 9, 2022 By Brian Babcock Are you married? About to be married? About to become separated or divorced? Already separated but not divorced? If you answer any of these questions “yes”, you need to be aware of changes to Ontario’s Succession Law Reform Act that came into effect on January 1st 2022. Prior to […]
What is a Fiduciary?
March 26, 2022 By Brian Babcock “What is a fiduciary?” is even harder to answer than “What is a Trust?”. In the case of both related concepts, there is no single definition that is generally accepted. Instead, we are given descriptions, examples, or tests to determine whether one exists. Unlike trusts, which have been recognized […]
What is a Certificate of Appointment? And do I need one?
Updated March 24, 2022 By Margaret Waddington What is a Certificate of Appointment? A Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with a Will (or Without a Will) used to be referred to as “Letters Probate” and is sometimes referred to as an Estate Certificate. The Certificate of Appointment is a process where the court reviews […]
Is there Doctor-Patient Privilege?
February 27, 2022 By Brian Babcock A court is will make an order for production for inspection of a document that is in the possession of a non-party and is not privileged, if a) the document is relevant to a material issue in the action; and b) it would be unfair to require the moving […]