Tag: Trusts & Estates

Equity Rules the Day: The Supreme Court of Canada Clarifies the Tenets of Proprietary Estoppel

Judges Gavel

In December 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61, a case dealing with the issue of proprietary estoppel.  While the facts of this case are borne out of circumstances relating to an estate, the law as set out by the Supreme Court can be equally applied in the context of commercial litigation in relation to promises made in a commercial context.  

Make a Will Month provides an annual checkup for lawyers and the public

According to a 2012 survey conducted by lawyers’ insurance company LawPRO, 56 per cent of Canadian adults do not have a signed will and 71 per cent do not have a signed power of attorney. The Ontario Bar Association hopes to tackle this issue during Make a Will Month, a public outreach campaign aimed at educating the public about the importance of executing a will and powers of attorney and informing the public about the ways in which lawyers can assist in estate planning.

21st Century Estate Practice: Shrunken heads and sperm

Hollywood’s vision of an estate solicitor sitting at their desk mulling fine points of tax law while sipping tea and drafting a will is so far from modern practice as to be laughable. One troubling issue for estate practitioners in the 21st century is the plethora of unique assets that have to be planned for, administered, and/or disposed of in a safe and permissible manner. An unscientific survey of our colleagues’ experiences yields some useful tips for dealing with unusual assets.

Estate Alert – Common Misconceptions about Joint Accounts and Joint Ownership

Elderly parents will often put their money into bank accounts held jointly with their adult children, or transfer real property into a joint tenancy with one or more of their adult children. Sometimes, this is done for expediency so that an adult child can help manage the asset. In other cases, this is a planning technique used to avoid estate administration tax when the parent dies.