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...

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...

Lynne Butler, who blogs at Estate Law Canada, wrote an article in the Globe and Mail last week about estate planning for twenty- and thirtysomethings. She writes about the fact that most people think that estate planning is something to do later in life; in my own...

For most people, one will is sufficient to properly protect their assets. Sometimes, however, it will be appropriate to have two or more wills in place to deal with different types of assets. In Ontario, the concept of multiple wills has been recognized since the case...

In Ontario, when you marry, you automatically revoke your will unless you have made specific provisions not to do so. The reason for this is that your spouse and/or children should not be disinherited simply because you forgot to update your will to reflect your...

Lynne Butler at the Estate Law Canada blog posted an interesting link a few weeks ago to an article called “6 Ways to Lose Your Estate” at Investopedia. The author, Stephanie Barton, goes through the six main reasons why it is important to have a will: control over...

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...

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...

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...