I love watching home reno shows. Seeing a kitchen or bathroom fully transformed can be really exciting, and gets me wanting to do all sorts of work at home. Which my fiancé loves. One of my favourite shows is Disaster DIY, where a contractor, Bryan Baeumler, shows up...
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cesia@wall-arm.ca
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Possession: still sometimes 9/10 of the law
As I have discussed before, nearly all properties in Ontario are in the Land Titles system. Under that system, if you try to claim property from your neighbour, you are barred. However, there is an exception: if you reached the threshold for a claim, which is either...
Dealing with death on Facebook
I have written before on what happens to your social media when you die. Today I am going to write about one site in particular, and an app that has been developed to deal with death on it. Sanctri is an app that allows you to create a “social memorial” as well as...
Beware of fraud – and beware of fake lawyers
Here’s a new fraud: people going to real law firm websites, copying the firm name and lawyer’s picture, and setting up a fake law firm that looks like the real firm, but with different phone numbers and email addresses so that the fraudster is the one to manage the...
Top five estate planning to-dos
This one is short and sweet. Here are my top five to-do items for estate planning: Get a will. This makes sure that what you want to have happen on your death, will. Get a power of attorney for personal care, and include a living will in it. Without this, you have no...
Extending
I acted for a client back in November who was selling a house that had belonged to his father, and that he had inherited. On the day before closing, I got a phone call from the buyer’s lawyer that the lender required an appraisal and that they would not get financing...
Leaving the gift of education
Many Canadian parents have established Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) for their children or grandchildren. These are special savings vehicles designed to help with post-secondary education. Unlike RRSPs or life insurance, RESPs cannot have beneficiaries on...
Some concrete consequences of the tightening of the mortgage rules
There have been a lot of casualties of the tighter mortgage regulations, but the hardest hit have probably been those who purchased condos pre-construction as much as five years ago, and are trying to close on them now. Several years ago, you could buy a condo with...
Do your frequent-flyer rewards expire when you do?
Almost everyone has some form of loyalty rewards, whether it is credit card points, Air Miles, or reward miles from a specific airline. Those points have high value; I have booked several trips solely through points. If you wait long enough, the points can add up...