Hey everyone, my latest book is out! Check it out if you are into genealogy or know someone who loves tracing their family tree. This one is unlike any other resource I've seen. It's all about using wills, probate records, and an amazing range of death records to fill out a robust picture of your ancestors. I've included everything from lists of passengers killed in shipwrecks to Holocaust ..read more

This is my last post on this blog.After 12 years, 2,900 posts, 11,000 published comments, and more than 8,000,000 views, I'm closing the doors on this blog.Frankly, I can't keep up! I'm running my law practice, which thankfully survived the pandemic. I'm still editing the Mensa Canada national magazine, still chairing the wills section of the Bar Admission Course, and I have a few new writing ..read more

Executors and beneficiaries alike have questions about how estates and bankrupt beneficiaries go together. Executors want to know what they are legally required to do with a share of an estate that is payable to a person in bankruptcy. And of course the beneficiaries want to know whether they are going to inherit the share or lose it to the bankruptcy process.This question was recently looked at ..read more

Once, a long time ago, a very smug person said to me that he had made his own will because he knew full well that lawyers only wanted people to make wills so lawyers can make more money. To that person I replied that if I want to make money, I will encourage everyone to make their own wills. Why? Because I would make a few hundred dollars if I made someone a will, but I'd make tens of thousands ..read more

There are so many new, interesting cases these days that I can't possibly blog about all of them. However, this one caught my eye because it addresses an issue that I hear about pretty often. This is the case of MacCallum v. Langille Estate, which was recently dealt with by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.In this case, Cora Langille made a will leaving the residue of her estate to her daughter ..read more

Have you ever heard that if you are named in a will but you are convicted of murdering the testator, you cannot inherit from the will? In Canada, this is true. But if that happens, then who inherits the murderer's share?Recently, this very issue was in front of the BC Supreme Court. The deceased was Lois Unger. Ms. Unger left a will in which she divided her estate between her two sons, Clayton ..read more

A reader raised a really interesting question recently so I decided to share it with all of you. Can you still claim dependent's relief when you received a substantial RRSP? Here is the question:"I live in Ontario, I am a dependant (common law) of the deceased. The RRSP was rolled over to me. I was not named in the will. My question is since I received the rrsp and has all the same penalties as a ..read more

A reader has asked a question about dealing with a mortgage on an estate property. Here is the question and my comments:"Just curious if a house has a mortgage upon death of the owner, does a typical bank like TD or BMO allow the estate trustee the typical year to settle things and pay back the loan. Obviously, taking into account the monthly mortgage payments are continued to be paid."In my ..read more

I would venture to say that an awful lot of people who read this blog have had to deal with someone in the family moving into the home of the deceased parents. Sometimes it's the executor and sometimes it's a beneficiary, but it's almost always a problem. Someone lives there without paying rent, the estate is delayed and everyone's nerves are frazzled by having to deal with this person.So what ..read more

There are some important changes to Ontario wills law this month. Beginning on January 1, 2022, in Ontario, getting married no longer revokes your will. Ontario is not the first Canadian province to make this change, nor is it the last. The change is not retroactive. It only applies to weddings that took place from January 1, 2022 onwards. If you were married before then, your will was still ..read more