ALL ARTICLES
- Charities, philanthropy and gifts
- Emergency measures
- Emigration and Immigration
- Estate planning
- Estate taxes and duties
- Family and matrimonial law
- Family business
- Family disputes and solutions
- Family governance and Family charters
- Family offices
- Foundations and Trusts
- Living will and testaments
- Personal income taxes
- Preparation of next generation
- Protection of wealth and family assets
- Residency
- Succession planning
- Tax Planning
Tax planning and moving to Canada
Canadian Immigration: The Importance of Tax Planning For anyone planning to immigrate to Canada, or former Canadian residents preparing to return after a period of non-residency, it is worth taking the time to do some pre-immigration tax planning. It may well be that the Canadian tax environment is a lot more aggressive than where you’re coming from. If you wait until after you arrive to start arranging your affairs, it will be too late. Each personal or family situation will be unique and will benefit from bespoke professional advice, but this note will outline a few things that a prospective new/returning Canadian should bear in mind before making their move. Canada imposes tax on the basis of residency, so once you become a Canadian resident you will be subject to Canadian taxation...
International Estate Administration from a Canadian perspective
International Estate Administration for Canadian executors or beneficiaries The administration of an estate can be a complex and intimidating process at the best of times. If the estate in question has international components to it, the complexity increases and professional guidance will almost certainly be essential. This article will provide an overview of some of the issues that arise in the context of estate administration with international elements, from the perspective of a Canadian executor or a Canadian beneficiary. There are a number of things that can make an estate administration “international”. These include: foreign assets that form part of the estate; the existence of foreign beneficiaries; the non-Canadian domicile* of the deceased at the time of death or at the...
Controlling your Trust
Controlling your Trust - A Matter of Some Discretion Two common reasons for the use of trusts in estate planning are to achieve tax efficiencies and to protect assets from potential creditors and claims. These are by no means the only reasons that trusts are utilized, but they are important benefits and are sometimes the primary focus of trust structure. Generally speaking, trusts that provide tax and asset protection benefits need to be structured so as to grant the trustees very wide discretion as to when distributions are to be made, to which beneficiaries, in what amounts, and in which circumstances. The language used in trust deeds usually gives trustees “absolute discretion” or “unfettered discretion” or similar. Consider the following two examples of why discretion is...
