Estate Lawyer Serving St. Catharines

Yes — we take instructions by Google Meet. Ontario execution still needs proper witnessing; we confirm whether that happens at our Mississauga office or under current remote-commissioning rules.

No. A Certificate of Appointment is an Ontario filing. What matters is that the lawyer is licensed here and familiar with the estate, not that the office is on your street.

First 15 minutes free, then $199 per half-hour. Wills and powers of attorney are quoted as a flat fee after we see the family and the assets.

The Succession Law Reform Act decides. A married spouse takes a preferential share — $350,000 for deaths on or after March 1, 2021 — and the balance is divided between the spouse and children according to statutory shares. A common-law partner does not inherit on an intestacy at all. Someone will also have to apply to the court to be appointed estate trustee, often posting a bond, which adds months of delay.

No. Ontario intestacy rules do not include common-law partners, regardless of how long you lived together. A surviving common-law partner may be able to bring a dependant support claim under the Succession Law Reform Act, but that is litigation rather than an inheritance. If you are in a common-law relationship, a will is not optional planning — it is the only reliable way to provide for your partner.

Estate Administration Tax is nil on the first $50,000 of estate value and $15 per $1,000 above that. On a $500,000 estate that is $6,750; on a $1,000,000 estate, $14,250. Assets passing by valid beneficiary designation or by joint tenancy with a right of survivorship generally fall outside the calculation, which is where planning has the most effect.

Ontario recognizes both a properly witnessed will and a wholly handwritten holograph will signed by the maker. Recognizing a document, however, is not the same as it working. The problems we see repeatedly are unclear or contradictory wording, no alternate beneficiaries, an estate trustee who cannot or will not act, no thought given to minor children's shares, and gifts that fail because the asset was already jointly held. The litigation caused by an unclear will costs multiples of what the will would have.

Marriage no longer revokes a will in Ontario — that changed, and a lot of older guidance still says otherwise. Divorce does revoke gifts to, and the appointment of, a former spouse, and separation for three years now has the same effect. Any marriage, separation or divorce is nevertheless a reason to review the whole plan, including beneficiary designations, which sit outside the will entirely.

Yes. Ontario permits virtual witnessing of wills and powers of attorney by audio-visual link on a permanent basis, provided the specific requirements are met, including that one witness be a licensee of the Law Society of Ontario. We take instructions by Google Meet and confirm at the outset whether your signing will be done remotely or at our Mississauga office.

They cover opposite situations. A will operates only after death. Powers of attorney operate while you are alive but unable to make decisions — which is the more likely scenario and the one that causes the most damage when unplanned. Without them, your family has to apply to the court for guardianship, which takes months and costs far more than the documents. No spouse or adult child has automatic authority over another adult's finances in Ontario.

Sometimes it helps, and often it causes more problems than it solves. It can reduce Estate Administration Tax, but it can also trigger income tax on a deemed disposition of part of the property, expose your home to your child's creditors and to claims in their own family law matter, remove your ability to deal with the property alone, and produce litigation among siblings about whether you intended a gift or only convenience. Ask before doing it, not after.

No. An application for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee is an Ontario court filing, and the governing law is the same across the province. What matters is that the lawyer is licensed in Ontario and knows the estate. Most of the work is document preparation, asset gathering, tax clearance and accounting, all of which is handled by correspondence and video.

A straightforward estate commonly takes a year or more, and that is not unusual. The time goes into locating and valuing assets, obtaining the Certificate of Appointment where required, dealing with the deceased's final tax returns and obtaining a clearance certificate from the Canada Revenue Agency, paying debts, and only then distributing. Estate trustees who distribute before tax clearance can become personally liable, which is why patience is protective.

To identify, secure and value the assets, deal with debts and taxes, keep proper accounts, treat beneficiaries impartially, and distribute according to the will or the intestacy rules. Trustees must not favour one beneficiary or profit personally without authority, and the Trustee Act sets a standard of care for investing estate property. Because the role carries personal liability, most trustees are well served by getting advice before acting rather than afterwards.

Yes, on several bases: lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, improper execution, or uncertainty in the document itself. Separately, a dependant who was not adequately provided for can bring a support claim under the Succession Law Reform Act, and there is a time limit tied to the issue of the Certificate of Appointment. We act both in defending a will and in bringing claims where an estate has genuinely failed to provide.

It is a lawful Ontario planning technique using a primary will for assets that require a Certificate of Appointment and a secondary will for assets that do not, most often shares in a private corporation. It can reduce Estate Administration Tax substantially on a business-owning estate. It only makes sense for certain estates, and it must be drafted precisely, so it is worth a proper conversation rather than a template.

The first 15 minutes are free, then $199 per half-hour. Wills and powers of attorney are quoted as a flat legal fee once we understand the family, the assets and whether any business or blended-family planning is involved. Estate administration is quoted after we see the estate, because the work varies enormously between a single bank account and a portfolio with a corporation and real property.