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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
28 January 2019 TAGS: Estates It's official: wills are not trusts The Divisional Court has resolved the recent confusion caused by the conflicting Milne and Panda decisions about the validity of certain wills containing "basket clauses".
16 January 2019 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief: Determining the purchase price of a business In Muchmaker Estate (Re), 2019 ONSC 59, the court had to interpret a provision in the deceased's secondary will for determining the purchase price of his business, among other issues.
17 December 2018 TAGS: Company Updates Introducing the Canada Will Registry NoticeConnect is launching the Canada Will Registry in 2019. We're building on our Knowledge of a Will notices to solve the problem of identifying missing or competing wills.
26 November 2018 TAGS: Company Updates Our estate notice matching system The NoticeConnect Creditor Dashboard is a tool that alerts you when an estate notice to creditors matches one of your receivables.
15 November 2018 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief: What happens when burial arrangements are contested? In Miller v Miller, 2018 ONSC 6625 the children of the deceased strongly disagreed over where their mother should be buried until an estate trustee could be appointed by the court.
26 October 2018 TAGS: Company Updates New Features This weekend we're adding two new features that will make it easier for lawyers and firms to post legal notices with NoticeConnect. We are always improving and refining our products in response to user feedback.
13 September 2018 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief: When is a will invalid? In Milne Estate (Re), 2018 ONSC 4174, the Superior Court answers the question: Is a will that grants the executors the discretion to determine what property is subject to the will a valid will?
24 August 2018 TAGS: Case Law What happens when a beneficiary can't be found? If a beneficiary can't be found, when is it appropriate to assume they've died? The Superior Court of Justice considered this issue in Steele v. Smith, 2018 ONSC 4601 and granted a motion declaring that a missing beneficiary had died before the testator.
18 July 2018 TAGS: Discussion Three Reasons Why Alberta Needs Online Notices to Claimants NoticeConnect makes it easy and inexpensive for estate trustees to advertise for creditors by letting them post notices online rather than in print papers. Our court-approved platform is now the standard practice in Ontario. Can estate practitioners in Alberta use us too?.
9 July 2018 TAGS: Case Law Court Approval: One year later Today marks exactly one year since the Superior Court confirmed in a written decision that publishing a notice to creditors on NoticeConnect satisfies the Trustee Act.
18 June 2018 TAGS: Case Law How long do surviving spouses have to choose between the FLA and SLRA regimes? In Aquilina v Aquilina (2018 ONSC 3607), S.F. Dunphy J. explains when it is appropriate to extend the statutory deadline by which a surviving spouse must elect between equalization under the Family Law Act vs the Succession Law Reform Act.
29 May 2018 TAGS: Estates Partnership Announcement NoticeConnect is thrilled to announce our partnership with Do Process Software to integrate NoticeConnect with their award-winning program, Estate-a-Base®.
23 May 2018 TAGS: Estates Four Ways to Find out if the Deceased had a Will When it comes to administering an estate, it makes a big difference if someone dies with a will or without a will. But how do you actually know if the deceased had a will? And if you find one, how do you know it's the most recent?
16 May 2018 TAGS: Statutes Public Notice Solutions for Government We've launched a tool for governments, using the technology behind NoticeConnect, to make public notices more accessible and economical.
