Albert didn’t bother talking to a lawyer. He wasn’t sure if he was playing it safe. Albert was executor of his uncle’s small estate. He didn’t realize, however, the size of the estate’s liabilities. His uncle’s RRSPs were transferred directly to his designated beneficiaries. Unknown to Albert,…
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Question 6 Are there foreign or business assets? Wouldn’t it be nice to travel to Europe? What if the estate has assets in another province or country? Will you have time and ability to manage assets in other jurisdictions and with different legal requirements? Are you familiar…
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Anita, like you, was an executor. She used her father’s estate funds to pay for her mother’s nursing home care for years after her father died. This was what dad had specified were his wishes in his last will. Anita never dreamed she’d have problems after her mother died….
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Albert didn’t bother talking to a lawyer. He was executor of his uncle’s estate. He didn’t realize the size of the estate’s tax liabilities. Uncle’s RRSPs were transferred directly to his designated beneficiaries. Unknown to Albert, those assets carried income tax liabilities. Albert’s uncle left his $100,000…
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It happens after every weekend. On Mondays, my office gets calls from people asking about probate. It usually goes like this: “I’m calling for a friend who is an executor. She wants to know how much you charge to probate an estate.” Sometimes the friend is really…
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Even in situations where everything is spelled out in the will down to the smallest detail, there will be disagreements. It is inevitable. As part of the human condition, people disagree. Even in the best of families, there will be questions of interpretation. “That’s not what dad…
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Everyone has an estate horror story to tell. And every estate is different. That is why executor checklists do not protect Ontario executors. I am starting a new series about dangers that Ontario Executors must be aware of to avoid trouble. If you are a first-time executor,…
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Estate trustees have investment duties. These duties are defined by courts, statutes and wills. Executors must invest estate funds as prudent investors. Let’s run through some key concepts. Executors don’t want to be sued personally for breach of trust. My new chapters on investment duties and breach…
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Are you planning your estate or running an estate? What do you know about probate? You don’t need to go to graduate school to be an executor/estate trustee. You do, however, need to have an overview of the probate process. What happens to an estate is everyone’s…
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Suddenly you’re an executor. You are asked to prepare an estate inventory. What do you have to do? The first step is to find out what kind of an inventory is required. I’ll give you a sample checklist for an asset inventory. Like all checklists, it only…
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