Category: Wills, Estates and Trusts

Oftentimes, my clients will appoint joint Executors in their Wills. This means, they are appointing two people to jointly administer their assets and apply for Probate.

In a world full of social media, online banking and cyber-identities, dealing with digital assets as part of your Will is extremely important.

Morbid? Yes. Timely? Yes. A Will is a “back-burner” thing. Life is busy... but all of a sudden, a global health crisis has hit us all.

Life insurance is simply good planning. Naming beneficiaries properly is even better planning, and does take careful thought.

Being an Executor is a big job. Be careful who you pick, and make sure that they are willing to do it.

Rule 25-2 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules requires Notice to be sent to beneficiaries, next of kin, and sometimes others, “at least 21 days” before the Executor files the Probate application materials with the Court.

These two, very different incapacity planning documents, are often confused.

What does “Estate Administration” actually mean? I often get asked this by my clients.

Whenever property is ‘Co-Owned’ by anyone other than a husband and wife, I always strongly recommend that a Co-Ownership Agreement be put in place.

I have been following the evolution of medical assistance in dying in Canada since before the Supreme Court of Canada released its reasons for judgment in the Carter decision.

In my initial estate planning meeting with clients, one very important question that I ask is “Do you hold your real estate as joint tenants or tenants in common?”

There are a whole new set of challenges when making an estate plan for a blended family.