“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” — Robert Frost Planning ahead is essential and having a last will and testament in place is a lifetime gift you can give yourself and your family. Maybe you have been procrastinating about having your Will prepared? Or perhaps, your Will was prepared years ago and you […]
HAVE YOU PLANNED AHEAD? Read More »
*Trigger Warning* Power of Attorney for Personal Care A Power of Attorney for Personal Care is a legal document that appoints an ‘Attorney’ and gives that Attorney the power to make decisions on your behalf related to your personal care, including your health, medical treatment, housing, meals, hygiene, etc. Your Power of Attorney for Personal
ESTATE PLANNING AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING (MAID) IN ONTARIO Read More »
Your Last Will & Testament (your “Will”) is an important legal document that sets out how your estate will be administered – meaning how the property you own will be divided after you pass away. It is important to have a Will in place to ensure that your property is dealt with appropriately and in
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR ESTATE PLANNING LAWYER Read More »
Use the right tool for the right job in the right way! Agreeing with the principle is easy, deploying it is more complex. Before you can use the right tool, you must know it exists. “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” [1] If you are comfortable with a single
WHAT’S IN YOUR TOOLKIT? Read More »
Just when you thought that was it. After you have signed your estate planning documents, it is recommended that you let your Executor(s) know where your original Will can be found. While it is common for the original documentation to be held by your lawyer for safekeeping, that may not always be the case. Should
YOU’VE SIGNED YOUR WILL. WHAT’S NEXT? Read More »
What do Jimi Hendrix, Pablo Picasso, Prince, Howard Hughes and Michael Jackson all have in common? They all died without a valid will. But they weren’t unusual. An Angus Reid poll found that 51% of Canadians do not have a will, and 35% of respondents said they had one, but it was outdated. There are
HOW WILL YOUR ESTATE BE DISTRIBUTED? Read More »
1.What is a Power of Attorney? A Power of Attorney is a legal document that gives someone else the right to make decisions on your behalf. 2. Are there different kinds of Power of Attorney? Yes. In Ontario there are three kinds of Power of Attorney: A Continuing Power of Attorney for Property (CPOA) covers
You likely have loyalty-based reward points of some kind, such as Air Miles or Aeroplan. You might be surprised that the reward points you accumulate may not be transferable by you to your beneficiaries. It depends on the contractual terms and conditions of your program, which you likely have never read or considered. You should
Your usernames and passwords for your online accounts should be an important part of your Estate plan. You should include them in your Will, or in a memorandum to your Trustee for your estate. You should keep these updated regularly. Currently the law in Ontario and Canada does not properly address digital assets on death.
USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS – A KEY PART OF YOUR ESTATE PLAN Read More »
Everybody should have an estate plan namely, a Will and powers of attorney, at least. What happens to your existing plan if you marry or separate/divorce? If you marry, you will (perhaps unwittingly) revoke your Will automatically in Ontario, unless your existing Will specifically says that you made it in contemplation of marriage. Therefore, if you
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