Posts by Martin Sanderson

Nearly every day, our clients pass along estate planning suggestions they have been offered by well-meaning bank staff, friends, neighbours, and the lovely gentleman who takes great care of the lawn. Unfortunately, these suggestions are frequently not accompanied by important information and, as a result, can lead to unintended and unfortunate outcomes if followed uncritically.

Trustworthiness and competence are the two most important criteria when deciding whom to appoint as one’s attorney in one’s power of attorney for financial and legal affairs.

Complications of appointing a US citizen or US resident under a Canadian power of attorney We frequently encounter folks who wish to appoint a US citizen or a US resident as attorney under their power of attorney. Often folks wish to appoint a child who has moved to the US for work, or a spouse,…

What makes a will valid in British Columbia?  What makes an amendment to a will valid? These deceptively simple questions can require surprisingly tricky answers. A complete answer is beyond the scope of a brief article like this, but in this post, we will look at some recent cases that involve the Supreme Court of…

Why your lawyer is nosy about your assets when you just want a will. We often hear some variation of the following: “I have a simple life and I want a simple will. Why are you asking for detailed information about my house(s), bank accounts, investments, life insurance, etc.?” In today’s post, we will provide…

Part 2 – Will Variation Claims In our last post we discussed some of the estate planning complications faced by people living in spousal relationships where one or both partners have children from another relationship, often referred to as blended families. In that post, we focused on things to consider when an individual is thinking…

Families in which one or both spouses have children from a previous relationship, known as blended families, present some particularly tricky challenges when it comes to estate planning. They often require a balance between providing for one’s current spouse and making sure that one’s children from a previous relationship will also be provided for. If…

Some Basic Estate Planning Considerations for Individuals with Minor Children Will Trusts for Minor Children: Why are They Necessary? One of the categories of people we encounter most frequently who do not yet have a will in place, but really should, is parents in young families with minor children. In a past post, we discussed…