Since 2007 and the ground-breaking Supreme Court of Canada case of Pecore v. Pecore (“Pecore”), the Courts have decided many cases concerning assets held in joint tenancy, and have had…

Documenting Intention After Transfer As more and more people look to joint tenancy as a “cheap” or “self-help” way of estate planning, we continue to raise concerns about the disadvantages…

We previously wrote about how putting an asset into joint tenancy could result in loss of control over that asset. Another troublesome area for joint tenancy is that it often…

We have previously written several times in this space about the risks presented by using joint tenancy as a cheap or “do-it-yourself” estate planning tool (past articles here). These risks

Many people use joint ownership as a simple method of estate planning. While joint ownership is appropriate in some circumstances, it is a blunt tool that can cause greater problems…

Increasingly people are using vehicles such as RRSPs and RRIFs for retirement purposes. One significant advantage of these assets is that that, if the owner designates a beneficiary, the funds…

Alter Ego vs Joint Spousal Trust Planning What is an Alter Ego Trust? An Alter Ego Trust is a type of trust allowed under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the

A Specific Type of Elder Abuse In a past article [here], we discussed the need for advisors to be wary of financial elder abuse. A less-common form of financial elder…

We are all aware that owning assets outside of Canada has its own set of challenges. Are you aware that it might affect your estate after you die, and that…

With all the buzz surrounding the Federal Government’s recently proposed tax changes, talk of income splitting and passive investments has dominated the headlines, taking the spotlight away from the government’s…

Your pension not only provides you with post-retirement income, but it also provides financial security for your loved ones after your death. As a pension contributor, it is important to…

Life is complicated, and especially so when losing loved ones. By preparing this broad checklist, we hope to provide you with some certainty and guidance through difficult times. We know…

What You Ought NOT to Do Using a Power of Attorney As we reflect on the client situations we have encountered over the past year, we thought it timely to…

Tax Cautions for Assets Passing Outside of the Estate As the saying goes, there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. When it comes to estate planning, the primary…

Learn how this Good Deed could Mess with your Plans… When we die our executors have a number of obligations in the administration of our estates, including the repayment of

Wondering about what is involved in planning your estate, and where to start? For many business owners, “estate planning” eventually becomes a collaborative effort between your accountants, lawyers (business and…

Pre-planning is something we enjoy doing when it comes to fun activities like a weekend at the lake. However when it comes to planning for death or incapacity, we tend…

When considering their estate planning, parents often want to support their children financially but are not sure of the best way to do so. One option of sharing wealth is…