A recent article in the Wall Street Journal addresses planning issues for childless couples. In certain respects, it may be easier to make Estate and incapacity plans if you don’t have children. The main problem, in my view, is finding the people to represent you and manage your financial affairs (and your health care) if you lose […]
Reasons for judgement were released last month in the case of Berg v. Murphy Estate. In this case, the deceased (who died in late 2010) and the Plaintiff had had a fifteen-year common law relationship. The couple entered a Cohabitation Agreement in 2006 that provided for the surviving spouse, who received $200,000 from the sale of their Salmon Arm house […]
Reasons for judgement were released recently in the case Li v. Ellison. The judgement took only a little over two pages to complete! The story goes like this. The deceased was born in 1938 and died in early 2012, at age 75. From his marriage, which ended in the early-1980s, he had two children. He made a Will […]
Reasons for judgement were released the week of March 10 in another case on Wills interpretation. In Baliko Estate v. Baliko, the Will maker (in a 2001 Will) left his Estate to a hospital. However, the description of the organization – a Foundation that was actually legally able to receive the bequest – was missing. The question for the […]
Last week I wrote about a recent case involving the interpretation of a Will, only to have reasons be released in another case involving Will interpretation. It does seem to indicate that this is a litigious area of the law, such that it’s useful to be clear and careful in drafting a Will (though the work doesn’t […]
Being an Executor in an Estate is hard work. He/she might have to organize the funeral. They may then be involved in cleaning (or fumigating) the residence of the deceased. Then there is the financial aspect, which is often a balancing act between the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency and the patience of the beneficiaries. On […]
As we close in on the proclamation date (March 31) for the new Wills Estates and Succession Act (PDF), more opinions on the nature of the legislation are being voiced. One of the more interesting comments is that the purpose of the Act is to give effect to what Will makers intend to do with their assets when […]
Lawyers who practice in the area of Wills and Estates frequently consider and examine the issue of capacity. Mostly, the issue arises with clients’ abilities – to make a Will, to make a gift, whether they were coaxed into taking a step (such as giving someone Power of Attorney) they would otherwise not likely have […]
On March 31, the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (WESA) will come into effect. Designed to modernize the very old law in this area, the Act will change most aspects of the legal environment around Estate planning, Will making, and handling of Estates. The Act will not invalidate existing Wills, but the new law will apply to them. It’s […]
DNA, a term we hear almost daily, is actually deoxyribonucleic acid, the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. It tells a lot about us, and it is being studied across the world, for numerous purposes. But since this column isn’t scientific, enough about DNA for now. Many […]