31 March 2021 TAGS: Estates Carefully searching for a will for small estates As of last month the Application for a Small Estate Certificate asks, in cases of intestacy, for the Applicant to declare that they "have carefully searched for a will of the deceased and was unable to locate a will."
26 November 2020 TAGS: Wills Lessons to Learn From Unconventional Will Provisions Creating a will is critical to ensuring a smooth transition upon your passing. However, this process can be greatly disrupted if it contains unconventional or difficult-to-follow provisions. To help you understand what’s realistic and what to avoid...
8 October 2020 TAGS: Estates 5 Things to Talk About When Managing Your Estate Plans Managing estate plans can be intimidating. In fact, many people are so afraid of the thought of it that they fail to plan adequately. Or, it may seem that with so much to learn and do, you simply don’t know where to start.
24 September 2020 TAGS: Estates Tips for Choosing an Executor Choosing an executor is like hiring an employee. You have to consider the candidate's qualifications, experience, and if they're the right fit. In this blog, I review some factors to think about when selecting the right person for the job.
9 July 2020 TAGS: Estates 4 Frequently Asked Questions About Posting a Notice to Creditors Whether you're posting for a client or you're an estate trustee yourself, publishing a Notice to Creditors on NoticeConnect.com is an important step to protect the estate trustee from personal liability.
11 June 2020 TAGS: Estates HBO's Succession and Estate Planning Tips HBO's hit show Succession chronicles the intertwined business and family drama of a high profile media family. The characters may be billionaires but the estate planning elements of the show are a reality for anyone doing succession planning.
16 March 2020 TAGS: Estates Death and Taxes: 5 Tips for Executors Administering an estate? If you've never been an estate administrator before, it can seem like an overwhelming task with many bases to cover. It is helpful to know what you are getting yourself into and the best practices to properly administer an estate so that no stone is left unturned.
14 February 2020 TAGS: PracticeConsiderations Client doesn't want to advertise for creditors? Have them sign an Acknowledgement and Direction If your client is an estate trustee who doesn't want to advertise for creditors, it's important to have them sign an Acknowledgement and Direction confirming they were warned of the risks.
4 February 2020 TAGS: Wills Planning For Your Digital Assets Simply put, Digital Assets can be anything stored on a physical device or on the cloud. Anything from an online account to a digital camera can be a digital asset.
21 January 2020 TAGS: Estate Law Practice Considerations: How to Avoid Solicitor Negligence Negligence claims against estate practitioners have steadily increased. By following these simple best practice considerations avoid solicitor negligence.
7 January 2020 TAGS: Guest Post Case Brief: Executor Sought and Denied Indemnity From Beneficiaries for Income Tax Liability of Estate In this recent Alberta Court of Queen's Bench case, Much Estate, the executor was found to be personally responsible for paying a significant portion of the estate's tax liability.
19 November 2019 TAGS: Discussion Q&A with Kavina Nagrani, JD, TEP We caught up with estate lawyer and longtime NoticeConnect advisor Kavina Nagrani this month.
22 September 2019 TAGS: Wills Registry The Canada Will Registry is Open for Searches We've opened up the Canada Will Registry for searches. Searching our database of 100,000 wills is effective due diligence to identify forgotten, missing, or competing wills.
22 September 2019 TAGS: Wills Three Reasons to Search the Canada Will Registry NoticeConnect's Canada Will Registry is open for searches. Searching our database of 100,000 wills is a vital step for estate administration. Here are three reasons why searching the Canada Will Registry should be part of your estate administration checklist.
15 August 2019 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Testamentary Capacity and Second Languages In Silano v Silano, the Superior Court considered a will challenge involving an Italian-speaking testator who made a substantial change to his will shortly before his death.
29 July 2019 TAGS: Estates Five Elderly Fraud Scams to Watch Out For There is sometimes a more sinister reason for people not passing down their wealth - it has been taken from them by scammers.
22 July 2019 TAGS: Estates Estate Plans of the Rich and Famous Here are five billionaires with philanthropic estate plans.
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.
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.
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.