SUCCESSION PLANNING IN FAMILY BUSINESSES CAN BECOME BOGGED DOWN BY EMOTIONAL ENTANGLEMENT

Family is the key word in Family Business. The emotional and historical ties that bind the family together can positively and negatively impact the viability of the Family Business. One of the most effective ways to mitigate the negative aspects of emotional family entanglement is to actively, enthusiastically and diligently engage in the process of succession planning.
Most businesses, family owned or not, appreciate that succession planning requires the involvement of outside advisors. Unfortunately, the tendency is to narrow the advisor support to lawyers, accountants and business consultants. All are essential in order to deal with the hard issues of business development, maintenance, and legacy, but most are ill-suited to address the “soft issues” that permeate family businesses. [Read more…]

MOST ONTARIO FUNERAL HOMES WILL ALLOW YOU TO PRE-ARRANGE YOUR FUNERAL

You can also prepay your funeral but that is not necessary in order to pre-arrange your funeral. For more information click HERE.

Most people arranging funerals for loved ones have never done it before and the death of the loved one is generally unexpected. As a consequence, those arranging funerals for the recently deceased are ill equipped to make sensible decisions. [Read more…]

MOST ONTARIO FUNERAL HOMES WILL ALLOW YOU TO PREPAY YOUR FUNERAL

Additionally you can pre-plan your funeral. For more information on this click HERE

The funeral prepayment does not go to the funeral home before your death. In Ontario, historically prepayments were held in GIC investments in trust for the customer. These days, prepaid funerals may be funded through a life insurance contract. [Read more…]

13% ON THE REAL ESTATE COMMISSION WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE SELLING PRICE

If you are selling your home and using a real estate agent, you will be aware that you will have to pay commission on the sale price. Many sellers, however, are not aware that they also have to pay HST (13%) on the amount of the commission.

Be sure to budget for the HST on the real estate commission when you are selling your home. [Read more…]

PREFERENTIAL SHARE OF MARRIED SPOUSE IF YOU DIE WITHOUT A WILL

(EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN SEPARATED, BUT NOT DIVORCED, FOR MANY YEARS)

On intestacy (dying without a Will) where the deceased was married at the time of their death (whether or not they are separated), the Succession Law Reform Act provides that the first $200,000.00 of the estate be paid to the deceased’s married spouse at the time of death. The rest of the estate is divided between the spouse and any surviving children of the deceased. If there are no surviving children the married spouse gets the entire estate.

IN ONTARIO RETAILS SALES TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES ARE STILL REQUIRED

Ontario has had harmonized sales tax (“HST”) since July 1, 2010. Ontario Retail Sales Tax formed a lien against the assets of a business if they were sold unless a Clearance Certificate was obtained from the Retail Sales Tax Office prior to closing.

A Retail Sales Tax Clearance Certificate is still required for any sale of all or substantially all of the assets of a business, even if it closed after the HST came into effect in Ontario. [Read more…]

SPOUSAL TRUSTS CAN BE COMPLICATED, ENSURE YOU SEEK THE ADVICE OF AN ACCOUNTANT AND LAWYER

If you have children from a previous marriage, you may want your new spouse to benefit from your estate while they are alive and have your estate pass to your children on the death of your new spouse.

You can accomplish this with suitable provisions in your Will that detail whether your entire estate or parts of it are to be held for the benefit of your new spouse. [Read more…]

WATER POTABILITY TESTS ARE CRUCIAL FOR COUNTRY A PURCHASE

If the property you are buying is located in the country, it will probably be serviced by a well. A buyer needs to ensure that the water is potable (drinkable). It is common for an Agreement of Purchase and Sale to indicate that the seller will provide a Water Potability Certificate. [Read more…]

DROPBOX ALLOWS REMOTE ACCESS TO ALL YOUR FILES

DropBox is cloud based storage for your computer. With a DropBox account you can save your office files to DropBox and then access those files from home or anywhere else you might happen to be.

DropBox simply appears in your file explorer window as a drive. You can create subfolders within your DropBox account. [Read more…]

CONCERNS WITH JOINT ASSETS WITH CHILDREN FOR ESTATE PLANNING PURPOSES

Clients often ask us to transfer their assets (including their house) so that it is held jointly between them and one or more of their children. Transferring your assets into your name and one or more of your children’s names as joint tenants in order to avoid probate tax is often a bad idea. [Read more…]