Business Succession

ESTATES & NFP: How your estate will be impacted by your spouse’s statutory rights

The Impact of the Family Law Act on Estate Administration The administration of estates became very complicated with the enactment of Ontario’s Family Law Act (“FLA”)...

TRUSTS & ESTATES: How your Beneficiaries are taxed

Taxation of BeneficiariesUnder subsection 104(13) of the Canadian Income Tax Act (“ITA”), the income of a trust or estate that is paid or payable to a...

TRUSTS & ESTATES: Transfering assets to your spouse or children

Trusts and AttributionThe attribution rules for trusts, transferors, and so on are given in Subsections 74.1(1) and 74.2(2) of the Canadian Income Tax Act (“ITA”).  These...

Utilizing Spousal Trusts for Estate Planning

If capital property of a taxpayer is transferred to a qualifying inter vivos spousal trust, s.73(1) of the ITA permits the property to be transferred at...

The Taxation of Trusts: Understanding Rates of Tax

Rates of TaxUnder s. 117, ITA, a testamentary trust is subject to tax, at the same graduated rates as an individual, while the rate of tax...

How Trusts are Taxed in Canada

Taxation of TrustsThe taxation of trusts and their beneficiaries are dealt with under Sections 104 to 108, inclusive, of the ITA. The fundamental principle with respect...

Establishing the Beneficiaries of a Trust

BeneficiariesShould the beneficiaries be not specifically referred to by name, they could be referred to by class, such as “children”. However, the description of the class...

Trusts, Trustees and Estate Planning

What is a Trust?The word “trust” has not been defined in the Income Tax Act (ITA), nor is there any definitive guideline to establish whether or not a...

Wills and estates of Natives

Administration and probateWhen the estate of a member of the First Nation falls within the jurisdiction of the Indian Act, the procedures for administration and probate...

Keeping your Trusts Clean

Cleansing Tainted TrustsA qualifying spousal trust could inadvertently lose its special status by inadvertently putting capital in the hands of persons other than the spouse. In such situations,...