The Florida real estate market was deeply shaken when the U.S. housing bubble burst eight years ago. Today, recovery is evident across the state. This is welcome news for Canadian snowbirds looking to invest in Florida property either for personal use or investment purposes. Below, a historical overview of the Florida real estate market, predictions for [...]
The start of 2015 came with some very exciting news for our neighbours down in the sunshine state. Florida has officially become the 36th State to recognize and allow same sex couples to marry. This new development became official less than one week into 2015 when a federal judge’s stay on a ruling overturning the state’s [...]
Version française aussi disponible. Earlier this year the Quebec superior court rendered a judgment in the case of Québec (Curateur public) c. A.N. (Succession de), 2014 QCCS 616 (CanLII) where the court clarified the nature of a beneficiary’s right in a testamentary discretionary trust. In this case, the beneficiary of the testamentary discretionary trust had a [...]
David A. Altro and Jonah Z. Spiegelman recently co-authored an article which appeared on Advisor.ca and is scheduled to appear in the April or May 2014 edition of Advisor’s Edge magazine. In the article, David and Jonah explain the considerations and opportunities that Canadians should keep front of mind if they have US-resident children who will [...]
Post-divorce, many Canadians are lucky enough to find second relationships, whether it is cohabiting leading to a common law partnership or another trip down the aisle. According to a 2011 census data release by Statistics Canada, blended families (where one or both spouses have children from previous relationships) have become a national norm, representing about one in eight couples’ families with children. This blog takes a closer look at the type of estate planning issues that blended families can face. As new relationships are formed with the new spouse’s family, estate planning becomes more complicated and steps must be taken to ensure that your intentions to protect your children from the prior marriage and/or for your new spouse to be protected upon your death, and that your estate will ultimately be distributed to the intended beneficiaries. […]
Planning for Disabled Beneficiaries in Ontario By Heela Donsky Walker February 18, 2014 Whether you own Cross-Border assets or not, when dealing with the transfer of assets to a disabled beneficiary who is resident in Ontario, special planning may be needed to preserve your disabled beneficiary’s entitlement to certain [...]
David A. Altro was recently interviewed for an article which appeared on Advisor.ca and in the Advisor's Edge magazine. In the article, David explains some estate planning tools for Canadians who have U.S. assets and a world wide estate valued at or above $5.34 million. Click here to view the article online or scroll down to [...]
Apart from any other estate planning measures one might choose to implement, there is always a role for a well-planned will. However, the content of those wills depends on whether one or both spouses are US citizens. Mixed Marriage – One Spouse is a US Citizen In the case of a mixed marriage, the wills of [...]
Revocable trusts are a common estate planning tool in the U.S. Also referred to as living trusts and grantor trusts, they provide a method of avoiding costly probate and incapacity proceedings. A well written revocable trust will also include tax and creditor protection planning for future generations. In addition to all of these benefits, the individual [...]
As Canadians, we tend to take for granted the benefits we are entitled to when living in a country with universal healthcare. However, provincial healthcare is only available to Canadian residents who spend the requisite amount of time in their home province every year. Historically, when it came time for some Canadians to leave Canada, many [...]
