Partner
Wills
Power of Attorney
Estates
Snowbirds
Disputes
Wills
WILLS
Our wills and estates lawyers can help you with preparing Wills and Power of Attorney documents ranging from the simplest to the most complex situation. Our firm can provide a full range of legal, tax, and planning advice. We can leverage our expertise and our resources to help you focus on long-term estate planning requirements. We also provide guidance on ongoing family-related matters, such as who will care for your young children and your assets. In addition to our work in the preparation of wills and powers of attorney, we can assist you in the creation of trusts to facilitate estate, business, and tax planning endeavours.
We can also help you address future contingencies such as the occurrence of a physical or mental incapacity. Our lawyers will craft documents that will allow you to choose who will make property and financial decisions if you or a loved one cannot. In addition, our legal team has expertise in drafting and executing Living Wills or Personal Care Powers of Attorney, that allow you to determine the type of medical and personal care you will receive in the event you can no longer make these decisions in the future.
Power of Attorney
POWER OF ATTORNEY
Your family does not have an automatic legal right to look after your financial affairs, nor do they have an automatic right to make choices about your health care. If you have not appointed someone to act on your behalf, an Application to the Court will be necessary to ensure that someone you trust is looking after these matters.
Powers of Attorneys are straightforward and powerful documents that help guarantee that appropriate decisions are made if you are unable to decide for yourself; they give the person you appoint automatic legal authority to manage your money and property, and to make decisions about your health and personal care.
Estates
ESTATE
A person’s estate may be managed with or without a will. In either event, if you are acting in a management or supervisory capacity with respect to the administration of an estate for someone who has died, you will need to address several obligations.These include notifying beneficiaries, filing tax returns, paying taxes and debts, funding out and managing the assets of the estate (such as personal or investment real estate, RRSPs or other registered accounts, pensions, investment in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments and money owed to the one who has died).Our firm can help you handle all issues involved with an estate and ensure that you are able to discharge your responsibilities in an efficient and effective manner.
Snowbirds
SNOWBIRDS
Owning a Second Home in the United States (Snowbirds)
If you own a second home in the United States, you need to be concerned not only with the estate law in Ontario but also with the estate and tax regime applicable south of the border. The law in the United States may come into play when you buy or sell your U.S. home, pass away while owning a U.S. home, or become mentally incapable while owing a U.S. home. If you buy a home in the U.S., your estate’s executor will need to address a number of significant legal issues.
These include the assessment of estate taxes on real and personal property located in the U.S. at the time of death, the capital gains tax assessed on the gain in value of your U.S. home and the subjecting of your Canadian will to the US probate process (as well as to the Canadian probate process). Our firm can assist you in creating a plan to resolve these thorny issues, and help you keep an eye on Canadian tax issues as well.
Disputes
DISPUTES
We can help you with problems you may have with a Will, Power of Attorney, or Estate. We act for beneficiaries, estate trustees, and claimants in a wide range of matters such as:
- Will disputes and the challenging of wills;
- Power of attorney disputes;
- Passing of accounts;
- Elder law;
- Guardianships;
- Capacity proceedings;
- Support applications;
- Spousal rights; and
- Breach of trust
