Posts from the ‘Legal’ Category

Nov 14

Preparing for 2016 – Changes to the Taxation of Life Insurance, Prescribed Annuities and Testamentary Trusts

For those of us who focus on estate and financial planning, particularly on the left coast, the last few years have featured a cavalcade of change. 2011 featured changes to how Powers of Attorney must be set up and what they can do, along with the introduction of a new healthcare document called an “Advance Directive” that allows you to dictate your healthcare choices in advance along the lines of a Living Will. 2013 marked large scale changes to family law in beautiful B.C., such as extending property rights to common law spouses and changing how property gets divided in the event of a divorce. This year (2014) saw massive changes to Wills law, including a change on how things get divided if you die without a Will, what happens if two people die around the same time and removing the automatic revocation of your Will upon marriage, to name just a few.

Despite the significant changes already in place, there more still to come. This time they’re coming from the Federal Government and will affect more than just those people who cheer for the Canucks. Fortunately, we’ve been told of these tweaks to the system several years in advance so that we get a chance to either prepare for the inevitable (such as under the new tax rules for how trusts set up in your Wills) or to take advantage of a final chance to buy life insurance and annuities that will continue to qualify under the current rules even under the new regime. Here’s a little bit about each.

Oct 4

How To Really Screw Up Your Business At Death (And What You Can Do To Avoid This)

Introduction

In my last article, I wrote about some of the steps you could take to wreak legal and financial chaos on those you love. I originally wanted to also include those important steps you could take to also drag down the family business / farm or start a family squabble that could hopefully last for generations. When I started writing, however, I quickly saw that this needed an article all to itself, as the opportunities seem almost endless. Even so, I won’t have time to address the extra level of problems that can arise if your immediate family aren’t the only owners of a business.

Most of the mistakes regarding your estate planning if you own a businss can be broken down into 3 main areas:

• Working really had to build a successful family business / farm then putting no effort into the logistics of how the company will operate without you and how to make things work at that point without your children engaging in a bloodbath;

• Failing to think about taxes and other expenses that can cripple your business, force your heirs to sell out or result in a much higher tax bill at your death than anyone deserves; and

• Not getting the proper legal documents and advice in advance.

Sep 7

How To Really Screw Up Your Will (And What You Can Do If This Is Not Your Goal)

It really isn’t too difficult to leave behind a legal, financial and logistical mess big enough to make your heirs shake their fists to the heavens; for many of us, life is complicated, as are our financial affairs. We may have creditor issues, blended families, squabbling relatives, businesses, cabins, assets earmarked for some but not all heirs, disabled heirs, and children with addictions and crappy marriages or those with a general inability to see a dollar without spending it. Accordingly, if any of these or the many other things that make life so befuddling apply, how realistic is it to rely upon a Will Kit bought at Staples or whatever professional charges the least to tie up all loose ends when you finally get the chance to find out whether there really is an afterlife? I’ll leave it to you to decide but do ask that you bear with me for a few more pages before making your decision.

Aug 19

Defined Benefit Pensions: Steps to Get the Most Out of Your Pension

Introduction

Some people like to say God that is “in the details” while others claim say it is the devil that calls the shots. In any event, the financial planner part of me wonders if whoever coined these expressions was secretly thinking about defined benefit pension plans. Sometimes, the details of a plan are a safety blanket that makes sure you’re covered regardless of what happens next while in other instances, the fine print is a trip wire that leads to catastrophe. Fortunately, whether your plan is a safety net or tsunami isn’t entirely a matter of chance; the choices you make at key points along the way have a lot of impact over what happens later. As a result, I want to talk about some of these key decisions and the things you can do to make your future a little bit more like heaven and a lot less like hell.