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odsp benefits age 65
March 9, 2011 0Comments

Leaving an Inheritance to Someone with a Disability: Is a Henson Trust the Only Option?

Clients often ask what can be done if their son or daughter with a disability expects to inherit from an older family member.  For example, a grandparent wants to provide a token gift to all of the grandchildren or an aunt who has no children of her own decides to leave her entire estate to a niece with a disability.
If the child is receiving Ontario Disability Pension Plan (ODSP) benefits, having an inheritance left to the child could result in the loss of ODSP benefits.  Unless the inheritance is so large that the child could manage without ODSP, consideration should be given to the options listed below

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February 21, 2011 0Comments

Tax Efficient Ways to Help a Child or Grandchild with a Disability When a Parent or Grandparent Dies

Rollovers from one RRSP (or RRIF) to another RRSP

On the death of a parent or a grandparent, under certain conditions the RRSP or RRIF of the parent or grandparent may be rolled over to a child’s RRSP on a tax-deferred basis if the child is dependent due to a mental or physical disability, regardless of the age of the child. Generally speaking, a disabled child is considered to be “financially dependent” if the child’s income for the year preceding the year of death was less than $17,621 (for 2010).
Where the disabled child’s income exceeds the “financially dependent” threshold,

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January 20, 2011 0Comments

ABA TECHSHOW 2011

Mark your calendars, the American Bar Association’s annual TECHSHOW will be held April 11-13, 2011 in Chicago. This year marks TECHSHOW’s silver jubilee as it celebrates 25 years of bringing lawyers and technology together. As always, it promises to be an information-filled, not-to-be-missed event. Some of the exciting sessions include:

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December 17, 2010 0Comments

A Primer on Estate Planning: Part II

I will pick up where I left off in my last blog and continue discussing the importance and advantages of proper estate planning.
Proper estate planning also allows you to plan appropriately for children under the age of 18, such as appointing guardians and deciding who should look after their assets. To ensure your young children do not receive their inheritance at age 18, you could include trusts so that a child’s share can be held to a later age when the child is more financially responsible. Similarly, you can make special provisions for beneficiaries with disabilities such as including special trusts which takes into account government benefits ensuring these are not lost.
Estate planning also allows you to: 

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November 28, 2010 0Comments

A Primer on Estate Planning

Invariably, when people hear that I work in wills and estates,  the immediate response is, “Oh, I really should get my Will done!”  Sound familiar? Adults often become blasé or unwilling, for a variety of reasons, to ensure that they have up-to-date wills and powers of attorney. In this and my next blog, I hope to motivate and encourage you to ensure you’ve done your estate planning and have these documents in place.
Having these important documents in place is really about making it easier for those we love.   Naturally, most of us would never intentionally cause undue stress for our families. 

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November 4, 2010 0Comments

What Will It Cost — A Discussion About Fees for Legal Work

A discussion about legal fees can be awkward as many of us don’t like to discuss money. However, it is important to have an idea what a professional’s services may cost before the work begins.   In this blog, we explore our approach to this sometimes uncomfortable but essential subject.
By the end of a client’s initial meeting with us to discuss having legal work done, such as the preparation of a will and powers of attorney, we are generally in a position to provide a block-fee quote for one or more options that may have been discussed.  Depending upon the client’s circumstances, we may recommend more than one option and will provide a quote for each option.  Where a client’s estate planning needs are complex due to the assets owned or the family or business situation, it may not be possible to quote a block-fee. 

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October 11, 2010 0Comments

The Top Three Apps I’m Most Thankful For

On this day of thanks, I thought I would share with you the three apps I am most thankful for.

Battery Indicator

This is one of my most recent tech utility discoveries and, perhaps, one of the best. It gives you a visual graphic in the taskbar showing (just glance at it – no mousing over it) the amount of time left on your laptop battery.  Over time,  laptop batteries will become incapable of holding a charge if you always have them plugged into the wall. The beauty of this application is that because you can see exactly how much time is left, you can run the battery down and just plug in before it goes totally dead, thus prolonging the life of your battery.

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September 18, 2010 0Comments

Is Managing a Law Office Part or All of What You do?

Here is an exciting conference you shouldn’t miss.  TLOMA (The Law Office Management Association) has put together what promises to be a highly rewarding and educational conference, aptly named the “2010 TLOMA Educational Conference”. It runs from September 22 to 25, 2010 at the Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino in Windsor, Ontario. This year’s theme is “RiseUp, ReNew and ReBuild”. It is surely one of this year’s conferences not to be missed!

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