You’re about to jump out of a plane with nothing but a parachute on your back, and suddenly realize you don’t have a will. What do you do? Ontario’s Succession Law Reform Act provides that a will can be done entirely in the testator’s own handwriting, signed at the...
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cesia@wall-arm.ca
How well do you know the warning signs of dementia?
The Globe and Mail published an article yesterday about Canadians' knowledge of dementia. It examined a survey recently published by the Alzheimer Society of Canada about Canadians' knowledge of symptoms of dementia. The survey revealed that almost one-quarter of...
“Lawyer, there’s a person in my house!”
It’s an all-too-common situation: you get the call from your lawyer that your keys are ready, you head over to your new home, and you find the vendors still there, packing up the house. What happens if the vendors haven’t moved yet? Technically, once the deal has...
Cy-what? The cy-pres doctrine
There is a (somewhat obscure) doctrine in estates law called the cy-pres doctrine. What this does is allow a gift made to a charity that never existed, or no longer exists, to be made to either a successor charity or a similar charity, provided that the gift in the...
Disorder in the court
For my last post of the year, I thought I’d share a case that is making the rounds on legal blogs: Bruni v. Bruni, released last month out of the court in St. Catharines. It makes for entertaining reading. Happy holidays!
Digital asset lockers
Most people these days have some sort of online presence, and more and more of us are acquiring digital assets to go along with that. I have blogged before on dealing with Facebook, Twitter and other accounts after death; today I want to talk about actual digital...
Capital gains tax and the principal residence exemption
Your home is likely the largest investment you will ever make. However, while most investments carry a large tax burden when you sell them for a profit, your home benefits from federal rules to encourage home ownership. As long as the property is your principal...
Life after death
Megan Connolly over at the Toronto Estates & Trusts Monitor wrote an article a few weeks ago on post-mortem assisted human reproduction. I have been thinking on this topic since early fall, when I heard Clare Burns speak at an OBA seminar on whether genetic...
What exactly are condominium declarations, by-laws and rules?
A condo declaration is a document that creates the condominium corporation. It defines what each unit is physically, establishes the common elements, and assigns responsibility for repair and maintenance of each unit and the common areas. It also sets out each owner’s...
“Dad loved you more!”
The Globe and Mail published an article last week about a case in British Columbia where a father left a will in which his son inherited the entire estate, while his four daughters inherited nothing. Unsurprisingly, the daughters sued the estate, claiming that they...