By: DOUGLAS GRAY & JOHN BUDD TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: What is Estate Planning? // 1 Regardless of your age, the issue of estate planning, in conjunction with your will, is an essential element of life planning. However, at different stages of your life, certain issues may arise that require different estate planning strategies. […]

By: Douglas Gray, LL.B. Two out of three adult Canadians do not have a will. Over 50% of them have children. One out of four Canadians will die suddenly. You can’t take the risk that the CRA will end up with more money because of poor tax and estate planning and lack of a will. […]

Testamentary trusts are included in your will to take effect after your death. Common options include the spousal trust, trusts set up for minor children or grandchildren, providing for family members with special needs, discretionary trusts for children who are spendthrifts and gifts for charities. Here are some examples: The Spousal Trust In this situation, […]

There are a number of creative ways that you can use a living trust. Common uses would be for a family trust, estate freeze, managing retirement needs, avoiding probate, ensuring confidentiality, and structuring a divorce settlement. Here are some examples. The Family Trust A family trust is a very useful device for holding investments or […]

You have probably heard of family trusts, private trusts, or corporate trusts. You may also have heard of offshore trusts or international trusts. There is a mystique about trusts as well as a lot of confusion about what they are and when they should be considered. Many people think trusts are just for the rich […]

There are several types of PAs as discussed following. General Power of Attorney This document gives authority to someone else to look after all your affairs, generally of a financial nature. You would have the option of giving all the powers right now, but protecting yourself by not giving a copy of the original document […]

What Is a Power of Attorney  (PA)? Many lawyers draft a PA at the same time that they prepare a will. A PA designates a person or a trust company to take over your affairs if, for example, you can no longer handle them because of illness or incapacitation, referred to as an enduring power […]

Anticipate Who Might Contest Your Will Think of who might challenge the content of your will. It would be primarily people who feel that you should have included them but didn’t, or did include them but did not give them much, or you had restrictions on the access to or timing of receipt, or nature […]

To reinforce the necessity to obtain a legal consultation before completing or re-doing a will, just look at some of the many reasons legal advice is specifically required because of the complex legal issues and options involved: you are separated from your spouse but not divorced you are divorced and want to re-marry you are […]

A life annuity provides regular payments that will continue for the rest of your life, no matter how long you live. When you die however, any money left in the annuity goes to the issuer, not your estate. The exception would be if you arrange an annuity which has a guaranteed payment period. There are […]