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If you hold an asset jointly with an adult son or daughter, such as a bank account or a cottage, you may be surprised to learn what will happen to the asset after you die.  Like many parents, you might assume that the asset passes directly to your surviving child and that he or she can do whatever he or she likes with the asset.  However, unless you have made your intentions clear, the law will presume that your child is holding the asset in trust for your estate.  In other words, the law does not presume that the asset belongs to your child.

Question: Can a parent exclude or ‘cut’ a child out of his or her Will? Answer: Generally, in Ontario, a person who is mentally capable of making a will is free to leave his or her estate…

Although some of us may be desperately trying to hold on to summer, fall is undoubtedly in the air. For some reason, fall always seems like the right time to get things in order, maybe even more so than the beginning of a new year. One thing you will want to ensure you have in order is your Power of Attorney for Property (“POA PPY”). If you become incapable or unable to take care of your financial affairs and do not have a valid POA PPY, you may create a very difficult situation for your loved ones. Everyone, regardless of the amount or kind of assets they have, should have a POA PPY. Don’t be confused by the use of the word ‘attorney’ – in Ontario, ‘attorney’ means ‘substitute decision-maker’ and not a lawyer like it does in the U.S.

In the midst of this glorious heat wave, let’s stay firmly rooted in cottage-mode, and afloat in the cool lake in particular, and look at a final series of issues you will want to consider for your cottage sharing agreement. Please note that the issues are not set out in any particular order of relevance.
One major, and possibly contentious, issue may be the use of the cottage itself. How will usage of the cottage be determined? Will a formal schedule be prepared? What about usage by family and friends of the owners? Be sure to fully negotiate this issue with all parties.

As the first long weekend of the summer winds to a close, let’s stay in cottage-mode a while longer and delve into the nitty-gritty questions you need to consider before having a cottage agreement drafted. Start with the basics,

1. If the cottage is not already owned, how should the purchase price be divided?
2. How should title to the property be held? For example, who should be involved, owners and spouses or owners only? How should title be held among the various owners, as joint tenants with right of survivorship (last one alive owns it) or tenants-in-common (each person’s share passes on death as per the person’s will; if no will, according to provincial intestacy laws)?

Lazy days by the lake, casual dinners on the deck, and cozy nights by the bonfire – the stuff that memories are made of. After a long, cold winter, cottage season has finally arrived and is undoubtedly in full swing. Although most of us own our own home, many of us share family cottages with siblings or perhaps jointly own a cottage with a few close friends. Whatever your specific situation, if you planning to or already share ownership of a cottage with others, consider the importance of having all the owners negotiate and sign a cottage agreement.

An estate plan needs to be tailored to the specific circumstances of the individual for whom it is created. There is definitely no ‘one size fits all’ in the world of estate planning! Some of the most complicated situations are those involving second marriages (or common law relationships), particularly where each partner has children from previous relationships and assets in his or her own name as well as assets owned jointly by the two of them.
We find that spouses often want an estate plan that considers the financial needs of the surviving spouse as well as ensuring his or her own children benefit. For example,

Perhaps influenced by ‘reading of the Will’ scenes in movies, clients often come to us with the idea that they will give away their estates  asset by asset; for example, the house to their son, the cottage to their daughter, a bank account to a cousin, the car to a friend — you get the idea. There are exceptions, of course, but generally it is not a good idea to