Toronto Estate Law Blog : Toronto Estate Lawyer : Hull & Hull Law Firm : Trust Mediation and Succession Planning : Serving Ontario, Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton

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Estate lawyers now have another reason to consider opening a Facebook account, that is if they haven't already done so.  A new Facebook group for estate practitioners has been created south of the border by estate attorney Jill L. Miller of Jill Miller & Associates P.C., New York, NY. The group's mandate is to "share ideas and recent legal developments, network, and discuss common issues and challenges facing our area of practice".

This trend was predicted last year by lawyer Kevin O'Keefe of Lexblog who remarked on his blog that Facebook was fast becoming a growing force for innovative and forward-thinking lawyers and business people.

According to a recent posting on the Wills, Trusts and Estates Prof Blog, the new group is intended as a networking platform for trust and estate attorneys with at least 2 years experience in any area including private practice, government, academia, family offices, banks and brokerage firms. The founder anticipates that the group will be both national and international in scope and will hopefully enable its members to network and exchange ideas with colleagues all over the world. Anyone interested can check it out here.

Sarah Hyndman Fitzpatrick

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"I say to you: Make Perfect Your Will.  I say: Take no thought of the harvest.  But only of the proper sowing".  T.S. Eliot, Choruses from the Rock.

These words, written a century ago, still resonate today.  Careful estate planning can ensure the most effective transfer of wealth to the next generation.  Yesterday I blogged on the emotional toll of estate planning and the reluctance many clients feel when thinking about, and planning for, their own demise.  Once you've decided to draw up a will and other estate planning documents, are there ways to prepare for your estate planning meeting with a lawyer to make the process run more smoothly?

It helps to think about the big picture of what you hope to achieve and the reasons for preparing your estate plan.  In his book "Advising Families on Succession Planning: The High Price of Not Talking", Ian Hull considers what an estate plan should accomplish.  First, you want to ensure your assets go the the people you intend; second, you want to reduce your estate tax bill; and third, you want to protect your assets if you become disabled. 

To ensure the assets go the the people you intend, your lawyer at the initial estate planning meeting will ask about the nature and extent of your assets.  Although exact figures are not required, approximate values are essential and the manner of ownership must be determined.  You will be asked questions such as where any real estate is located, and whether it is held jointly or as tenants in common.  Life insurance policies, RRSP's and RIF's will be considered and beneficiary designations will be addressed.  You will also need to think about whom you wish to appoint as the estate trustee (also known as the executor) of your estate, the guardians of your minor children, and the attorney(s) for your powers of attorney.  The lawyer will assist you with selecting appropriate persons or entities to act in this capacity and will canvass the pros and cons of appointing more than one person in certain situations.  Individual family dynamics are critical to discuss with your lawyer.  Appointing alternate executors and attorneys in the event the first named one is unable or unwilling to act is often advisable as well.  Although many clients have an idea of where they want their assets to go (i.e. to my wife and then to my children), they are often not prepared for questions pertaining to alternate beneficiaries in the event all of the immediate family passes away in a common accident.

In the event charities are named it helps to be as specific as possible in naming the charity and allowing for a general charitable intent in the event such charitable organization is no longer in existence at the time of your death.  

Many lawyers will also send out questionnaires to new clients, to assist with the preparation for the estate planning process and to provide the client with ample time to consider their wishes.

Sarah Hyndman Fitzpatrick

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Listen to The Absentee Act

This week on Hull on Estates, Christopher Graham and David Smith talk about The Absentee Act and some of the different scenarios that it applies to.

Comments? Send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-350-6636, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estates blog.

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The very thought of planning for one's death can be an emotional and anxious time for clients hoping to create an estate plan. Questions such as "who do I trust enough to be my executor?" and "who will care for my children after I'm gone?" are difficult ones to ask, and often even more difficult to answer.

Despite the emotional aspect of preparing your estate plan, avoiding or postponing consulting a professional to discuss your estate plan is never the best idea. The reality is that someone, eventually, will be forced to deal with these issues. Without your input and involvement in the estate planning process, the final outcome will fail to reflect your wishes and may cause an enormous financial and emotional burden on your loved ones. A recent article published by CNN discusses the ramifications of neglecting your estate plan.

So, how can you deal with the procrastination and take the estate planning plunge? There really is no time like the present, and estate planning is best undertaken when you are healthy (both physically and mentally). I've been in many situations where the family of a testator contacts me to engage in estate planning on behalf of the testator, only to discover that its just "too late" because the client (the testator) lacks the testamentary capacity to provide instructions. The time to plan for your demise is when you are healthy and able to think clearly about your wishes - not when it becomes an emergency situation.

Although the process is an emotional one for many, I'm always pleased to see such an enormous sense of relief when a client finalizes their estate plan. Comments such as "I'm so happy that I've wrapped this up - this has been on my mind for ages" and "I can finally sleep soundly tonight" are not unusual.

So set aside your feelings of anxiety and consult a lawyer to prepare your estate plan - you just may sleep better knowing you haven't left it to chance.

Sarah Hyndman Fitzpatrick

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This week on Hull on Estates and Succession Planning, Ian and Suzana discuss the question of compensation and complaints regarding compensation.

Comments? Send us an email at hullandhull@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-457-1985, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estate and Succession Planning blog.

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An interesting controversy has been brewing in the United States on the issue of estate tax in the year 2010.  Estate tax in the United States is a tax imposed on the transfer of the "taxable estate" of a deceased person, including those cases where property is transferred via a will or the laws of intestacy.

Amazingly, due to changes made by Congress under the George Bush administration back in 2001, estate tax is due to fall from 45% today to zero in the year 2010.  It will then increase to 55% in the year 2011.  This unusual loophole has, not surprisingly, led to some very innovative estate planning tactics across the border and has even been referred to by one Wall Street Journal columnist as the "Throw Mama From the Train Tax" (read the article "Death by Taxes: Seniors May Plan Their Demise to Maximize Their Bequests" here).

But just how far are people willing to go?  As the Wall Street Journal suggests, "If speeding up death can prevent a small fortune from being captured by the government, its not a stretch to suspect that death will be timed conveniently".  The issue is keeping estate and tax solicitors busy as many are preparing multiple wills based upon the year in which their client might die.  Word has it that before the 2010 repeal, both Barack Obama and John McCain are proposing new exemption amounts which would take effect before the year 2010 and avoid the potential calamity.

As estate solicitors, we are aware that estate taxes (referred to as estate administration tax or "probate" tax in Canada), can alter human behavior (i.e. such as a move or transfer of assets to a more tax friendly jurisdiction) and motivate individuals to estate plan as creatively as possible.  The transfer of property into joint ownership (in certain circumstances), multiple wills and certain trust instruments are examples of such tax avoidance strategies. 

 Sarah Hyndman Fitzpatrick

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My last blog this week examines the application of our favourite Rule 57.07 - Liability of Solicitor for Costs - in the context of affidavits.  We (and our clients) have all suffered through The Angry Affidavit.  In Manitoba, which has comparable legislative provisions authorizing and governing cost awards, drafting such an affidavit can be expensive for the drafting lawyer.   

In Eblie v. Yankowski, [2007] M.J. No. 145, the court awarded costs against the solicitor personally where an affidavit contained irrelevant, scandalous, vexatious and frivolous.  It was not enough to simply type what the client wanted to say.  The solicitor was responsible for drafting and presenting the affidavit material, and had caused costs to be incurred without reasonable cause.  In this case, the costs incurred included a motion to expunge the impugned material. 

Further, the court made the interesting comment: "It is difficult to accept that these materials were not prepared and filed for an improper purpose, namely to prejudice the mind of the court against the opposite party. If their inclusion in the affidavit filed by the Petitioner was intended to gain undue advantage and to defeat the course of justice costs against counsel personally are clearly warranted."  

For those interested, section 96 of Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench Act is nearly identical to section 131 of Ontario's Courts of Justice Act in creating jurisdiction to make discretionary cost awards.   Manitoba's Rule 57.01(1) is similar in all relevant ways to Ontario's Rule 57.01(1), and Manitoba's Rule 57.07 similarly imposes potential personal liabilty on solicitors.

Enjoy your weekend,

Chris Graham

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There seems to be a rule for every situation in estates litigation.  Consider the oft-ignored Rule 74.14(2), the short-cut to probate rule.

Probate applications are refused where the application material raises legal issues.  Normally, the next step is to bring a motion for directions to have a judge rule on the legal issues raised by the application.  There is arguably no such thing as a "simple will"; even a modest estate can give rise to issues of the highest level of complexity.  Preparing motion materials for interpretation of a "simple will" can therefore be disproportionately expensive.

Can Rule 74.14(2) can apply to avoid the need for drafting motion materials?  Rule 74.14(2) states:

"Where, in the opinion of the registrar, the application and accompanying material are not complete or contain information on which the registrar has a doubt, the application shall be referred to a judge for determination."

The qualifying conditions for referral to a judge can be interpreted quite broadly.  The key to this provision is the absence of any requirement to bring a motion.  It would seem that a letter to the registrar is sufficient, citing this rule and requesting the matter be referred to a judge.  Of course, unanimity among the parties to the probate application is probably required, though not explicitly stated in the rule.  It probably also helps to be polite, since the language of Rule 74.14(2) is discretionary.

This useful rule is unlikely to be the subject of substantial litigation, since where an estate can bear litigation expenses, the usual course of a Rule 74.15 motion for an Order for assistance, or a motion or application for directions under Rule 75.06 will be preferred.   

Have a great day,

Chris Graham

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Imagine that one day, you were told you had to get a job.  You were told to go make a living, and that hard work was good.  Not only that, you would have to work FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. 

According to virtually every news source in the British Isles, that's exactly what Sir Sean Connery is being accused of doing to his only son, Jason.  This shocking revelation appears to have been exposed by a former wife of the former 007 star, Diane Cilento.  The root cause may be Sean Connery's experience with really, really hard work reportedly as a barrow-pusher in Edinburgh's industrial sector (back when Edinburgh had an industrial sector), as a milkman, and other tough jobs prior to superstardom.  Sean Connery reportedly wanted Jason to develop a work ethic. 

Sean Connery's fortune is estimated at 85,000,000 pounds - about USD$170,000,000 - and his son Jason allegedly won't see any of it, according to Cilento, because Sean Connery has left him out of his Will.  Apparently, after a tough go of it in the 1980's, Jason works and even earns a successful living as an actor and film director in his own right. 

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is that a hugely wealthy and successful father forcing his son to get a job is a newsworthy story.         

Have a great day at work,

Chris Graham

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When an irresistable force meets an immovable object, we appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

In Canada (Privacy Commissioner) v. Blood Tribe Department of Health, 2008 SCC 44, the force is the Personal Information Protection of Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") and the object is solicitor-client privilege.  Section 12 of PIPEDA grants the Privacy Commissioner express statutory power to compel a person to produce any records that the Privacy Commissioner considers necessary to investigate a complaint “in the same manner and to the same extent as a superior court of record”.  The issue in Blood Tribe was whether this conferred a right of access to documents protected by solicitor-client privilege.  The Court held unanimously that the broad grant did not contain the requisite specific express authority to override privilege.

The Court stated the rule that "general words of a statutory grant of authority to an office holder such as an ombudsperson or a regulator do not confer a right to access solicitor-client documents, even for the limited purpose of determining whether the privilege is properly claimed.  That role is reserved to the courts.  Express words are necessary to permit a regulator or other statutory official to “pierce” the privilege." 

The Court also noted that "while the solicitor-client privilege may have started life as a rule of evidence, it is now unquestionably a rule of substance applicable to all interactions between a client and his or her lawyer when the lawyer is engaged in providing legal advice or otherwise acting as a lawyer rather than as a business counsellor or in some other non-legal capacity."

Speaking of the Supreme Court of Canada, the law you're looking for just might be in the "unreported judgments" section of the Supreme Court's user-friendly website.  How does a Supreme Court decision go unreported?

Have a great day,

Chris Graham

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Listen to Developments in Will Changes.

This week on Hull on Estates, Ian and Suzana discuss developments in will changes. They reference cases from Key Developments in Estates and Trusts Law in Ontario ed. 2008.

Comments? Send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-350-6636, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estates blog.

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Speaking of risky U.S. investments...

Public administrators of estate monies appear to have lost around $20,000,000.  The place?  The Bronx, NY.  When a New York resident dies intestate (without a will), his or her assets are managed by these public administrators until there is a court-approved settlement.  This is roughly the equivalent of monies paid into Court in Ontario.  The investments are even overseen by a judge.  

Similar to Ontario, the monies ought to be invested in low-risk investments like Treasury bills.  But apparently that principle was ignored by the public administrators, who instead bought auction-rate securities, the market for which collapsed in February.   

The lesson?  First, nothing happens on a small scale in New York, not even in the Bronx.  Second, a "risky" investment means that one might lose money.  A tough concept to grasp?  Third, someone else always gets paid: see page 2 of the article.  Where there are investments to be made, there are fees to be paid. 

Luckily for the beneficiaries, it appears that ultimately the city (ie, the taxpayers) will pay, not the various estates' beneficiaries. 

Thanks for reading,

Chris Graham

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If you have recently gone on to your favourite charity’s website or received correspondence from a charity you donate to, you will likely notice an advertisement asking if you own BCE shares. 

The privatization of BCE shares means that some shareholders are now looking for a way to minimize their tax liabilities from the sale of shares. Some financial advisors have advocated  the direct transfer of the publically traded securities to registered charities as one way to minimize any capital gains.

Since 2006, charities seem to have benefitted from the elimination of capital gains for donated shares. In turn, charities have become more sophisticated and take a business-like approach to attracting potential donors of shares. By providing the contact information of a gift planner, easy to fill out share transfer forms with step-by-step instructions, and information about the advantages of share donation, charities are hoping shareholders donate their shares directly to them by presenting them with a win-win situation.

Additionally, charities are providing more information to potential donors about estate planning and the potential tax benefits of donations-in-kind, such as the transfer of shares. Charities and private foundations are sending the message to potential donors that donors can benefit on multiple levels through different types of donations and charities are there to assist them with their choices.

Enjoy your weekend,

Diane Vieira

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In a recent Ontario decision, Tiedemann v Tiedemann, the court considered whether the deceased had intended to gift to his sister the balance of funds in a joint account held by the both of them.

The sister argued that her brother intended to gift to her the balance of the funds as he did not have a good relationship with his son. The son of the deceased, the sole beneficiary of his estate, contented the funds belonged to the deceased’s estate on the basis of a resulting trust. The court found as the deceased was the only contributor to the account, the sister had to rebut the presumption of a resulting trust and as she was neither his spouse nor his child, she derived no benefit from the presumption of advancement.

Referencing the Supreme Court of Canada decisions of Pecore v. Pecore and Madsen Estate v. Saylor, the court looked at the evidence to determine the deceased’s actual intention. The court found the testimony by the deceased’s lawyer and a bank employee indicated that the deceased was interested in providing his sister with the authority to manage his finances and had not intended to gift her funds.

Weighing the evidence, the court found on a balance of probabilities that the resulting trust had not been rebutted and the intention of the deceased was to have his sister assist with bill payments if he became incapable.

To learn more about joint accounts, listen to Episode HOESP #60  where Ian Hull and Suzana Popovic-Montag discuss Percore v Pecore or read the transcribed version.

Thanks for reading,

Diane Vieira

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Listen to Accounting Concepts and Definitions

This week on Hull on Estate and Succession Planning, Ian and Suzana talk about accounting concepts and definitions after receiving requests from listeners to outline a more general framework for estate administration.

Comments? Send us an email at hullandhull@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-457-1985, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estate and Succession Planning blog.

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Blackberries and iPhones have been in the news a lot lately. These communication devices seem to have become irreplaceable for many Canadians and their frequent use is having an impact on the work place.

This past Monday, the Globe & Mail carried a story about the potential health impacts of the chronic use of these devices. Problems such as Blackberry Belly, caused by slouching when you hunch over to read your screen, and Blackberry Thumb, caused from excessive texting, were just two of the many afflictions cited by a physiotherapist and researchers quoted in the article. Aside from these physical ailments, frequent Blackberry use may also contribute to anxiety.

The use of Blackberries after regular work hours also has the potential of becoming a pertinent employment issue with employees seeking compensation for their use outside office hours. Late last month, the Globe & Mail carried a story about the writers’ union for ABC News, the Writers Guild of America. The Guild was challenging a long standing contract waiver that prevented employees from collecting overtime pay for work that was be done after work hours and facilitated via communication devices such as Blackberries.

It will be interesting to see if the changing technology will have a long term impact on employee’s work environments, or if this is much ado about nothing.

Have a nice day,

Diane Vieira

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As you probably know, Hull and Hull LLP produces two weekly podcasts that discuss issues related to the estates area and estate and succession planning. Podcasting has certainly grown in the last year and there is a lot of content out there. To learn more about our firm’s use of this social medium, read Suzana Popovic-Montag’s and Ian Hull’s blog on podcasting.

Other Canadian legal podcasts include Osler Audio Reports offered by Osler, Hoskin, & Harcourt LLP that discuss a variety of business legal issues. The Canadian Bar Association provides PracticeLink Podcasts offering practice management information to its members. Law is Cool is both a blog and podcast produced by and for Canadian law students. (Podcast Episode No. 8 features an interview with Ian Hull).

Law schools are also providing a tremendous amount of information through the podcasting medium. The University of Ottawa’s Law and Technology Program was one of the first educational institutions to utilize podcasting and make classes available via podcasts. Through podcasts, many American law schools are making special lectures available to the public. Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation produces PONcasts offering advice on negotiation skills.

On a slightly different note, BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action is a half hour weekly podcast from the UK that discusses legal issues in the news.  

These are just a few of the legal podcast choices out there. Whether it is for education or entertainment purposes, there is a lot of information out there.  

Have a nice day,

Diane Vieira

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Listen to Strategies to Prevent Estate Litigation

This week on Hull on Estates, Natalia Angelini and Rick Bickhram discuss tools and strategies to prevent estate litigation.

Comments? Send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-350-6636, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estates blog.

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A widow in the United Kingdom is suing her two children, her one-year-old son and three-year old-daughter, over her late husband’s estate.  Taryn Dielle launched an action in London’s High Court claiming that the country’s intestacy laws do not provide her with enough money to care for her children.

Her husband, a London millionaire, died in 2007 without leaving a Will.  As he died intestate, his estate, worth about £2,231,201 (approximately 4.5 million dollars), was distributed in accordance with the United Kingdom’s intestacy rules. According to those rules, Ms. Dielle is to receive the statutory legacy and £50,000.00 ($100,000) per year in interest from her late husband’s estate, while her two children inherit the rest of the estate.

The United Kingdom’s intestacy rules provide that when someone dies intestate, leaving a spouse and issue, the surviving spouse receives all personal chattels, a lump sum of £125,000 (just over $250,000 dollars) referred to as the statutory legacy, and a life interest in one half of the residue. The surviving spouse can only receive the interest from the residue and cannot encroach upon the capital. The issue of the Deceased receive one half of any excess over the statutory legacy and ultimately they receive the other half of the residue when the surviving spouse dies. To contrast the UK law with Canada’s intestacy succession law, please read David Smith’s blog on intestacy distribution.

This will be an interesting case to follow and is already being referred to as an example that highlights the importance of estate planning.

Thanks for reading,

Diane Vieira 

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Looking out of our office window on such a beautiful summer day, my mind drifted from blogging to golfing. I then struggled to make a connection between the world of trusts and estates, and thoughts of golfing.

The one thing that immediately came to mind was the comment of Rodney Dangerfield’s character Al Czervic from the movie “Caddyshack” that “Golf courses and cemeteries are the biggest waste of prime real estate in America.”

Looking a little deeper on the internet, I found a wealth of golf-related murder mysteries!  Yahoo hosts a group for golf mystery collectors. The Waterboro Public Library has compiled a list of well over 100 golf murder mysteries (I stopped counting at 100). 

Titles include “Death is a Two-Stroke Penalty”, “Deadly Divots”, “Death Under Par”, “Rotten Lies”, “Fairway to Heaven”, “Putt to Death”, “Par for the Corpse” and “Six Strokes Under”. There appears to be no limit to the punning.

Whether you’re reading, or golfing, or both, have a great summer!

Thank you for reading.

Paul Trudelle

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Recently, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down an arbitration clause in a retainer agreement.

In Jean Estate v. Wires Jolley LLP 2008 CanLII 14538, an estate trustee and sole beneficiary of an estate entered into a retainer agreement with counsel that provided for a “success fee” of 10% of the value of the estate. The retainer agreement also provided that any dispute relating to the success fee was to be determined by an arbitrator. 

A dispute arose, and the solicitors sought to have the dispute resolved through arbitration. The client applied to the court to have the notice of arbitration struck out, and to have the dispute resolved by the court.

Madam Justice Low granted the application. She held that the provisions of the Solicitors Act applied prima facie. She went on to conclude that even though the parties had previously agreed to an arbitration provision, and could agree to keep private commercial disputes private, the relationship between lawyers and clients is “one which transcends a mere commercial transaction. The profession has a monopoly over the provision of legal services and the occasions upon which lawyers interact with members of the public occur often when the latter are in the most vulnerable of circumstances. There is therefore an overarching public interest to be served in the court’s supervision of the profession’s monopoly.”

As the arbitration provision was a derogation of the client’s statutory right to have the court scrutinize the propriety of the fees, it was not upheld.

Thank you for reading.

Paul Trudelle

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The common law in Ontario now appears to clearly provide for claims by “disappointed beneficiaries” against drafting solicitors where a bequest to a beneficiary fails as a result of the negligence of the solicitor. (See Harrison v. Fallis, 2006 CanLII 19457 (ON S.C.))

A decision out of the Saskatchewan Court of Queens Bench appears to open the window to this type of claim even wider. Disappointed beneficiaries may also have a cause of action as against financial institutions and others that provide estate planning advice.

In Mayer v. Nordstrom, 2003 SKQB 397 (CanLII), the deceased consulted with a financial adviser with respect to his estate plan. The deceased owned a mutual fund plan, and designated his son as the beneficiary. However, the plan was not registered, and the designation was therefore void.  The fund fell into the deceased’s estate, and the son received only half of the value of the fund as a beneficiary of the estate. The disappointed son sued the financial planner for negligence. 

The financial planner resisted the claim, taking the position that he did not owe a duty of care to the son.

The Court disagreed. The Court held that the “disappointed beneficiary” principles articulated in solicitors’ negligence cases such as Earl v. Wilhelm (2000), 183 D.L.R. (4^th) 45 (Sask. C.A.) and White v. Jones, [1995] 1 All E.R. 691 (H.L.) applied equally to other professions. The “disappointed beneficiary” principle “is not a function merely of the defendant’s occupation”. The planner was a professional who held himself out as possessing special skill, judgment and knowledge in financial planning, which included estate planning tools. The planner ought to have known that carelessness on his part would cause harm to a third party.

The duty of care to potential beneficiaries, opened in the White v. Jones decision, continues to expand.

Thank you for reading.

Paul Trudelle

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Listen to Investment Account Issues and Considerations

This week on Hull on Estate and Succession Planning, Ian and Suzana talk about how good trustees deal with accounting issues in volatile markets and other investment considerations.


Comments? Send us an email at hullandhull@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-457-1985, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estate and Succession Planning blog.

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In order to attempt to combat what is felt to be a growing problem of real estate fraud, the Ontario government has put new registration requirements in place when a real estate document is being registered.

The requirements call for the making of certain “law statements” by an individual registering a real estate document (transfer or mortgage) under the authority of a power of attorney. The individual must make a statement that they are acting within the scope of the power of attorney. Further, the solicitor must discuss the power of attorney with the client and make a “law statement”. For most purposes, the solicitor must complete the following statement:

I, name of solicitor, confirm that I have reviewed the power of attorney with the attorney, and the attorney has confirmed that:

1. The attorney is the lawful party named in the power of attorney,

2. The attorney is acting within the scope of the authority granted under the power of attorney,

3. To the best of the attorney’s knowledge, information and belief, the power of attorney was lawfully given, and

4. The power of attorney has not been revoked.

In addition, the original signed and witnessed power of attorney must be scanned and registered. 

Lawyer and bencher Robert Aaron discussed the new requirements in a recent article in the Law Times, p. 12. Mr. Aaron stated that while the new requirements will allow the party on the other side of the transaction (and their solicitor) to review the power of attorney document, and provides an opportunity for defective powers of attorney to be caught, “I’m not sure that it will frankly do much to stop fraudulent powers of attorney.”

Thank you for reading.

Paul Trudelle

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Listen to Declarations of Death Act

This week on Hull on Estates, Sean Graham and Rick Bickhram talk about the Declarations of Death Act. They discuss what happens when a person goes missing from a jurisdiction and some possible remedies.

Comments? Send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-350-6636, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estates blog.

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Estate practitioners are fond of discussing the “unprecedented transfer of wealth” that is set to occur over the next few decades.  The idea is that as the asset-rich baby boomers age and pass away, the number of estates being distributed (and the size of the estates) will be at a level never before seen. 

However, as an interesting article in the New York Times points out, people expecting a windfall when mom or dad die might be in for a surprise.  In his article, 8 Reasons You Should Not Expect an Inheritance, Ron Leiber points out that while the aging population might be wealthier than in generations past, people are also living longer and have higher expenses. 

Some of the issues that Mr. Leiber raises in his articles are more relevant to U.S. residents, but most have more general application; here are some of them:

1.       People are living longer.  In 2005, the life expectancy more males who reached the age of 65 was 82 while for females it was 87;

2.      Work-place pensions are becoming less common, meaning that people are more reliant on the financial markets (and their ups and downs) to generate retirement savings;

3.       The skyrocketing costs of health care will increasingly be passed to the consumer; and

4.       Divorce is on the rise, meaning that the aging retirees might be sole income, not dual income, and, thus, have greater expenses (and less wealth to pass on).

While the fact remains that the aging boomers have greater wealth than ever before, it’s worthwhile for those engaged in both planning and litigation to keep in mind the outside forces that will affect the size of an estate.

Have a great weekend,

Megan F. Connolly

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Samuel Golubchuk, the critically-ill 84 year old Orthodox Jew, who was at the centre of a fight over whether to remove him from life support, died last week. 

Justin de Vries first blogged on the case in January and I wrote a follow up blog in February of this year.  At issue in the case were the competing views of Mr. Golubchuk’s family and his doctors over whether he should be removed from life support.  He had suffered brain damage in a fall and was unable to walk, talk, breathe, or eat on his own.

His doctors had said that there was no chance he would recover and wanted to remove him from life support.  His family opposed this, arguing that taking him off life support would offend his Orthodox beliefs and that he had not left any prior instructions indicating a desire to be taken off life support in the case of serious injury or illness.

In February, a judge directed the matter to trial. 

I have been following this case for sometime and my thoughts are with his family.  What a horrible situation for all involved.   

Thanks for reading,

Megan F. Connolly  

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Listen to Dependant Relief.

This week on Hull on Estates, Natalia Angelini and Craig Vander Zee discuss dependant relief and reference a variety of cases that utilized the Succession Law Reform Act.

Comments? Send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-350-6636, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estates blog.

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Listen to Delegation in Investment Accounts

This week on Hull on Estate and Succession Planning, Ian and Suzana discuss delegation issues that arise when dealing with Investment Accounts and address a listeners question about the family cottage.

Comments? Send us an email at hullandhull@gmail.com, call us on the comment line at 206-457-1985, or leave us a comment on the Hull on Estate and Succession Planning blog.