What happens when one joint tenant (or tenant in common) wants out of a property and the other says no? There is a piece of legislation in Ontario called the Partition Act that governs the concept of partition and sale, when a court can order that property be...
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cesia@wall-arm.ca
Betting the farm, or cottage, or chalet….
I see many clients who have recreational properties that they want to leave to their children through their wills. Dealing with this type of property can be very complicated, because there is often a great deal emotionally tied up in a family vacation property well...
Title insurance as foreclosure insurance?
I read an interesting article recently in the New York Times on the foreclosure epidemic in the United States and the role that title insurance is playing there. Because of extreme sloppiness, many American banks have halted all foreclosures while they determine...
Giving the gift of guns
I recently had a client ask me what would happen to his firearms on his death. He owns several, all registered, and he has a valid firearms licence, but no one in his family has a licence and none of them would be interested in holding onto the firearms after his...
What exactly is a condominium?
Condos were created in Ontario by the Condominium Act in 1967. In a nutshell, a condo is a system of property ownership that involves the division of property into units that are individually owned, common elements that are owned in common by the owners of all units...
Not so simple wills
Most people who put off having a will professionally drafted do so because they believe that they don’t have much in terms of assets. As an exercise with all of my clients, I go through all of their assets, subtract off all of their debts, and come up with what their...
Why you should get a home inspection
There is a case in British Columbia from 2007 that addressed the old concept of “caveat emptor” or “Buyer Beware”. In British Columbia, as in Ontario, it is the buyer’s obligation to determine whether there is anything wrong with a house before purchase; it is not the...
Tracking fraud related to dementia
The Globe and Mail published an article over the weekend detailing a new initiative by the federal banking ombudsman to better track cases where people with dementia are being taken advantage of, particularly with regard to their bank accounts. The Ombudsman for...
Title searching
On August 27, I blogged about disbursements and what they are. Today I wanted to write more about one disbursement in particular: title searching. Title searching is done to determine whether there are any agreements, easements, restrictions, etc. on title that could...
Lawyers vs. Attorneys
With the Americanization of much of Canadian culture, the term “attorney” has become synonymous with the term “lawyer” here. However, “attorney” in Canada does not in fact mean “lawyer”; instead, it means agent. If you have an attorney acting for you, such as under a...