I have a number of clients who have young children; often, they own Registered Education Savings Plans to help with their children’s education when the time comes. RESPs are different from other registered investments. Rather than being able to name a designated...

I get asked this question a lot: my spouse just passed away. What do I have to do to remove him/her from title? The short answer is, you don’t. While you certainly can take steps right away to do a survivorship application, which takes your spouse off title, you don’t...

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with your estate plan. Here are five: You don’t talk to your family. Don’t assume that everyone will be happy with the decisions you made, and that they will go along with everything. Ask your executor and guardian of minor...

It’s a terrible term, isn’t it? It’s an even worse concept. Because obituaries are so often online these days, identify thieves are using information taken from those obituaries to try to steal assets after someone has died, while the family is grieving and...

I’ve written many times about the importance of including digital assets in your estate plan. It is something I discuss with all of my clients, because there is currently no law in Canada dealing with what happens with digital assets on the owner’s death. These laws...

In Ontario, we have full testamentary freedom, with one exception (that you can’t cut out a spouse or minor child who would be entitled to support). If you aren’t married or have a prenup, or don’t have children under 18 or who need support, then you can do pretty...

That’s a silly question, of course; we all will, eventually. The only question is who will die at 2, who will die at 50 and who will die at 117. And that is a question that none of us knows the answer to, which is why I always find it so surprising that so many people...

Obviously, in a perfect world, we would all have estate plans in place that dealt with everything and would run smoothly when the time came. Since that is not the case, here are some tips to make yours a bit better: Determine who will manage your affairs if you become...

I saw a client today whose wife has advanced dementia. Unfortunately, no one told him at the time she was diagnosed that she should sign powers of attorney for care and property. Because they didn’t know, she now is incapable of managing her affairs, incapable of...