65 years ago, Cecil Harris was out in his field when he jumped off his tractor to check on something. The tractor unfortunately kept going, and he became trapped underneath it. Recognizing that he might die, he scratched instructions into the side of the tractor: “In...
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Estate Planning
An update on the right to live
I have written before about a case winding its way through the Canadian courts about a patient’s right to live. Hassan Rasouli went into Sunnybrook Hospital for surgery, contracted an infection, and ended up on life support. His wife, who was also his attorney under a...
Missing and presumed dead
I recently read this article from the CBC about a man in Ohio who has been trying to prove for several years that he is not, in fact, dead. In 1986, Donald Miller went missing. For eight years, his family heard nothing from him. At the end of eight years, in...
Can you leave employment to your beneficiary?
Milton Grant wanted to provide for his son, Thomas, through his will, but also wanted to ensure that Thomas developed a healthy work ethic. To that end, he drafted a paragraph in his will that provided his son receive lifetime employment from the company that Milton...
How to inherit an estate
Most of us, at some point in our lives, will lose a loved one who will have left something in their will. If what you inherit is significant in value, you should keep a few points in mind. Take your time. You need to give yourself time to grieve, and then time to...
Wedding bells and divorce decrees
In Ontario, if you marry, your will is automatically revoked. Whenever I say this, even if the person I am speaking to is a bit surprised, they see the logic: revoking your will means that you do not accidentally disinherit a new spouse simply because you forgot to...
Back to school
September marks the return to school of many students, including university- and college-age students. While many of these young people have little in the way of assets, and thus do not have a great need for wills or other estate planning documents, they do need...
A bit of resurrection
Vincent Bright was recently sentenced to probation for stealing his father's body out of a Detroit cemetery. The reason he stole the body was his belief that he could resurrect his father through his religious beliefs. He placed his father in his freezer at home; it...
A new kind of holograph will
A holograph will is a will that is done entirely in your own handwriting; if there are no typed portions, then it just needs to be dated and signed at the bottom. No witnesses are required. There have been some unusual holograph wills probated in the past, such as a...
Sorting your stuff
When people think about estate fights, they often think that the heirs are fighting over large bank accounts, or country properties. More often than not, however, family members will fight longest and hardest over the stuff. My grandfather passed away when I was 18....