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...

On August 17, I blogged about probate rules and probate tax. It is because of the probate tax in Ontario that many people will set up joint accounts; they are a way to allow assets to pass outside of the estate and therefore outside of probate requirements. However,...

Most, if not all, of us have some sort of electronic presence, whether it’s a web-based email account, a Facebook profile or a Twitter account. These accounts likely contain a great deal of personal information and connect you to numerous people around the world. Most...

I am often asked to place instructions in clients’ wills regarding specifics about their funerals. Many people are quite clear on what type of memorial they would like to have to celebrate their lives, as can be seen in the wills of celebrities such as Gary Coleman...

Many people think that separation or divorce automatically revokes a will or leaves their former spouse out of the inheritance rules. This is not the case. If you divorce, your former spouse will not inherit under an intestacy; your will remains valid, though, and...

A probate order is basically a seal of approval. In Ontario, it is received through an application to the court, and confirms that the will is valid and can be relied on. In order to receive a probate order, the executor or applicant must pay a tax equivalent to...

Whenever I meet with clients to discuss their estate plans, I always recommend that they discuss their decisions with their family members to ensure that everyone understands why the will was drafted a particular way, especially if there is to be an unequal...

I’ve written a number of posts recently on estates that were poorly planned or not planned at all. For a change, here is an estate that was planned properly: George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees. Steinbrenner, who died last month, was the unplanned...

The Globe and Mail published an article last week on the estate of Franz Kafka. The article deals with the literary estate of the author of several masterpieces of the 20th century. At the time of his death, Kafka asked his friend and executor, Max Brod, to destroy...

There have been a number of high-profile estates in the news recently, with the deaths of Gary Coleman, George Steinbrenner, Stieg Larsson and Chris Haney (co-creator of Trivial Pursuit), to name a few. Most of the time, celebrities’ estates make the headlines because...