24 June 2019 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Testamentary Capacity and Early Stage Dementia In Kay v Kay Sr, 2019 ONSC 3166, Maranger J considered a will challenge where the testator executed a will at age 89, while in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
12 June 2019 TAGS: Wills Estate Planning in Ancient Egypt Writing a will ensures that you have a say over how your estate is handled after you die. This is nothing new. The oldest known will was created in Ancient Egypt.
7 June 2019 TAGS: Estates Where to Store Your Will When thinking of where to store your will, it is important that you think of storing it in a secure place that will be safe from fire, water damage and theft.
27 May 2019 TAGS: Will Registry How to Register Your Wills Once you've enabled access to the Canada Will Registry, you're ready to start registering your wills. In this blog post we go through how you can register your records individually or all at once.
27 May 2019 TAGS: Will Registry How to Get Started with the Canada Will Registry It's easy to get set up on NoticeConnect's Canada Will Registry. In this blog, we go through the steps to get started.
27 May 2019 TAGS: Will Registry We've Launched the Canada Will Registry NoticeConnect has officially launched the Canada Will Registry. Lawyers and firms can register their will vaults, organize their digital records, and transfer and receive records.
21 May 2019 TAGS: Wills Types of Powers of Attorney (in ON, AB and BC) A Power of Attorney (POA) is a legal document where you provide someone with the authority to make decisions for you in the event that you are no longer able to handle your own affairs.
13 May 2019 TAGS: Wills Holographic Wills and Handwritten Alterations to Wills It is common for people to change their mind about the terms of their will. While going back to a lawyer to make amendments may seem taxing or expensive, not going to your lawyer can result in complications.
6 May 2019 TAGS: Executors Terminal Tax Returns When a person passes away, his or her executor or estate administrator is required to file a final income tax return. It is important to ensure that any outstanding tax returns from previous years are also completed and filed. Failure to file previous returns may result interest or penalty charges.
26 April 2019 TAGS: Discussion What Happens When a Will is Lost or Destroyed Wills are required to legally administer the estate and should be kept somewhere safe (typically, in a safety deposit box at a bank, at the client’s lawyer’s office, or, a secure location at home).
22 April 2019 TAGS: Estates When is it necessary to advertise for creditors? Advertising for creditors is an important step to protect an estate trustee from liability for the debts of the deceased. Publishing a notice to creditors is appropriate for most estates. And if a client does not wish to advertise, it is advisable to get a signed direction letter confirming this.
18 April 2019 TAGS: Wills When can a will be signed by someone other than the testator? One of the formal requirements of a valid will in Ontario is that it is signed by the testator or by some other person in his or her presence and on his or her direction. This means, that a will may be signed by an agent, or by amanuensis.
15 April 2019 Revocation of Wills Wills, by nature are revocable. In essence, testators have the freedom to change their mind about their testamentary dispositions. All they have to do is make a new Will.
11 April 2019 TAGS: Estates Case Brief: Challenging a will because of a "material mistake of fact" In Cavanagh et al. v. Sutherland et al., a mother had made a will disinheriting one of her six daughters. After the mother died, this daughter argued that the will was invalid because the mother's decision to disinherit her was "contingent on a material mistake of fact."
9 April 2019 TAGS: Estates Photocopies of wills The general rule for probating a will is that you must submit the original will to the court. You simply cannot send a photocopy of the will to the court as if it were an original.
4 April 2019 TAGS: Wills Marriage and the Revocation of Wills If you have executed a will before getting married in Ontario, it is automatically revoked upon marriage. This means, the entire will is invalid. One way to avoid this is to make a will in contemplation of marriage.
1 April 2019 TAGS: Estates Formal Requirements to make Will in Ontario There are certain requirements that must be met in order for a will to be valid. Generally, all Canadian provinces and territories have the same or similar formal requirements.
27 March 2019 TAGS: Company Updates Case Study - Publishing a Notice to Creditors on NoticeConnect Protected this Client from a Five-Figure Debt Advertising for creditors on NoticeConnect.com protected this lawyer's client from a five-figure debt.
26 March 2019 TAGS: Wills It's easy to register your entire will vault on the Canada Will Registry We're launching the Canada Will Registry this May. Your firm can start preparing to register its entire will vault in one bulk upload. Registration is simple, free, and beneficial to you and your clients.
25 March 2019 TAGS: Wills Electronic Wills For many decades, the formalities associated with wills have undergone little modification. With the rise of technology and the use of apps for just about everything, the rise of unforeseen circumstances for probate courts to confront is a new reality.
15 March 2019 TAGS: Estates Does Every Will Need to be Probated? Generally, a personal representative, or executor, must probate the Will of the deceased. This means it is the executor’s responsibility to prove in court that the Will meets all the legal requirements.
12 March 2019 TAGS: Estates Testamentary Capacity - Who can make a will? In the majority of will challenges, testamentary capacity is often the main issue of the case. Will drafting lawyers are strongly encouraged to determine their client’s mental capacity for the purposes of signing a Will.
8 March 2019 TAGS: Estates Do Millennials Need Wills? How young is too young to make a will? Probably younger than you think.
19 February 2019 TAGS: Estates Our will registry keeps your information confidential We're launching the Canada Will Registry this Spring. We've designed it in a way that keeps your data confidential and we've obtained a legal opinion from a leading Canadian law firm confirming that estate practitioners have the implicit consent of their clients to register their wills with us.
14 February 2019 TAGS: Discussion The top three strangest wills Some people think creating a will is a solemn occasion - a way of staring down one’s own mortality and acknowledging that nothing lasts forever. Others, by contrast, have taken it upon themselves to make their wills as eccentric and unique as they were in life.
