Estate Planning for Blended Families

Product Type: Course

This course has no current sessions.

DescriptionMore DetailAgenda

Add some valuable tools to your toolbox!

Rebroadcasts
"Last Kick at the Can": Wednesday, December 9, 2015; Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
"Last Kick at the Can": Monday, December 14, 2015; Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

(Original course: Friday, May 22, 2015)

Who should attend: Lawyers practicing in the area of wills, estates, and trusts; the course may also be of interest to lawyers practicing in the area of family law and to general practitioners.

Learning level: Intermediate

Blended families are more and more common but have very unique planning aims and requirements. This course will examine the tools that are available to lawyers to assist in planning: wills, family law agreements, trusts, and others. It will also look at the risks involved with the use of each of these tools and the practical considerations necessary in choosing the appropriate tools for your clients.

After taking this course you will...

understand the considerations when acting for blended families
be aware of the planning tools available for blended families
understand the risks in using these planning tools
gain knowledge of the tax regime with respect to estates and trusts

You may also be interested in the related course WESA—One Year (and a few months) Later being held Friday, June 5, 2015. Contact Customer Service to register for BOTH courses and SAVE.

Law Society of BC CPD Hours: 6.5 hours (a minimum of 1 hour will involve professional responsibility and ethics, client care and relations, and/or practice management)

Course Chairs

Shelley A. Bentley — Kerr Redekop Leinburd & Boswell, Vancouver
Kenneth N. Burnett — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver

Pricing

"Last Kick at the Can" Rebroadcasts: $475

Registration includes an electronic copy of the course materials.

Webinar Archive: This course will be added to the Webinar Archive. See below to subscribe.

Unable to attend without financial support? To learn more about CLEBC's Bursary Program click here and for our Easy Pay Plan click here.

Can't make the live course/live webinar?

1. Order the online course materials, an archive of all CLEBC papers published since 2001. ... OR
2. Subscribe to the Webinar Archive, a repository of recordings of most CLEBC past courses.

Annual subscription rates for both options are based on firm size.

CLEBC Program Lawyer
Nadia Myerthall
nmyerthall@cle.bc.ca

Course Chairs

Shelley A. Bentley — Kerr Redekop Leinburd & Boswell, Vancouver
Kenneth N. Burnett — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver

About the Course Chairs

Shelley Bentley has practiced will, estates, trusts and elder law for many years and currently practices as Shelley Bentley Law Corporation with colleagues at Kerr Redekop Leinburd and Boswell. She has been in-house counsel at CIBC Trust and in the trust department at the Loewen Group Inc. Shelley also spent a year working for Vancouver Community Legal Assistance Society as the Mental Patient’s Advocate at Riverview Hospital.

Shelley was a regular columnist covering section activities for the BC branch of the CBA in the Advocate and in the Bar Talk magazine for 20 years. She is a past chair of the CBABC's Wills and Trusts Section (Vancouver) and a member of the Estate Planning Council of Vancouver. A frequent contributor to CLEBC, she has been a repeat workshop leader for the Wills Drafting Workshop and for Death is not the End: Estate Administration Workshop. For a number of years, Shelley was the author of the chapters on Wills, Estates, Trusts and Adult Guardianship Law in the Annual Review of Law and Practice published by CLEBC. She has been a contributing author to updates of CLEBC’s BC Probate & Estate Administration Practice Manual for the past four years.

Ken Burnett is Associate Counsel with Miller Thomson LLP and offers a broad range of advice to clients in the areas of estate planning, corporate, not for profit, commercial, and general business law, including advice on contested estate matters. Over the years, he has practiced extensively in the areas of estate planning and estate administration. Ken also advises foreign investors on ownership vehicles for investment in Canada, and has extensive experience advising on not-for-profit entities as well as complex corporate structuring, restructuring, and acquisition matters.

Ken is the current chair of CBABC’s Air and Space Law Section, and is also active in its Successions, Trusts and Fiduciary Relationships, Business Law, and International Law Sections. He has previously been chair of CBA Member Services Committee (National and BC branch) and chair of the Wills and Trusts Section of the CBA. Ken is the former chair of the Editorial Advisory Committee of CLEBC’s BC Probate and Estate Administration Practice Manual (1984-2015) and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Vancouver and STEP. When not in the office, Ken can be found at a golf course or walking.

Faculty
Sandra L. Enticknap, QC — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver

Kim Karras — Brawn Karras Sanderson, Surrey
Michelle Isaak — DLA Piper (Canada) LLP, Vancouver
Anna Laing — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Helen H. Low, QC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Duncan J. Manson — Owen Bird Law Corporation, Vancouver
Kate S. Marples — Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver
Genevieve N. Taylor — Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver
Geoffrey W. White — Geoffrey W. White Law Corporation, Kelowna

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Welcome and Introduction

Shelley A. Bentley — Kerr Redekop Leinburd & Boswell, Vancouver
Kenneth N. Burnett — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver

Acting for Blended Families: Conflicts, Confidentiality, and Other Considerations

client management
retainer agreements
who is in the room
ethics

Kim Karras — Brawn Karras Sanderson, Surrey

The Will as a Planning Tool

will drafting considerations to minimize dispute
- choosing personal representatives
- personal effects
- structure of gifts
use of mirror wills, multiple wills, and contracts
when is the will the right tool

Genevieve N. Taylor — Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver

Wills Variation Issues

changes to wills variation practice under WESA
assessing the legal obligations to the spouse in light of the Family Law Act
update on variation cases involving blended families
using inter vivos trusts to avoid variation—the recent case law
solicitor’s responsibilities in planning with a will or non-will tools

Helen H. Low, QC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver

Trust Tools and Issues

survey of the options and benefits of
- spousal trusts
- alter ego trusts
- joint partner/spousal trusts
- other options
transfer of property to trusts
transfer of property out of trusts
bare trust issues

Sandra L. Enticknap, QC — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver

New Taxation Regime for Estates and Trusts

taxation of life interest trusts on death—impact on blended families
consequences of graduated rate estates for blended families
qualified disability trusts

Kate S. Marples — Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver

Networking Break

Family Law Tools and Issues

WESA changes
using family law agreements effectively to deal with asset division on death
incapacity of spouses in the blended family context
stepchildren parenting/guardianship and support issues

Anna Laing — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver

Networking Lunch

Other Tools

WESA changes
joint tenancies update
- post-Pecore usage
- Sawdon Estate v. Sawdon case
- considerations in using for personal property vs. real property
- using bare trust declarations with joint tenancies
- with agreement to fund obligations
deeds of gift
insurance and RRSP/RRIF disignations
- when to use
- practical tips

Michelle Isaak — DLA Piper (Canada) LLP, Vancouver

Networking Break

Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements

issues with powers of attorney
using the adult's assets to support others
when can an attorney sever a joint tenancy
representation agreements vs. health care advance directives

Geoffrey W. White — Geoffrey W. White Law Corporation, Kelowna

Some Risks of the Planning Tools—Fraudulent Conveyance

overview Fraudulent Conveyance Act and recent case law
application to estate planning—are traditional estate planning tools subject to the Act
are potential wills variation claimants protected
does a valid estate planning purpose eliminate the taint of an improper concurrent purpose
practical advice for estate planners
other observations

Duncan J. Manson — Owen Bird Law Corporation, Vancouver

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Estate Planning for Blended Families

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