Estate Planning 2024

January 31, 2024 at 9:00AM PST

Downtown Vancouver and Live Webinar

Estate Planning 2024

January 31, 2024

Overview

The legal landscape for estate planners is evolving. The issues involved in preparing for the future have become more diverse and complex than ever before. This program will keep you current on some of the most recent developments and challenges faced by estate planners today, bringing together leading experts on estate planning and taxation issues to provide you with practical, current advice.

You will gain a solid understanding of evolving issues and discuss potential approaches and opportunities to structure and implement estate plans that meet your clients’ needs. You will leave with an up-to-date awareness of important developments in this area and how to successfully put them to work in your practice.

Key Areas Addressed:

  • Estate planning for people with disabilities, both as clients and beneficiaries

  • Incapacity planning and tips for drafting powers of attorney

  • The use of trusts in planning

  • Reporting requirements for bare trusts

  • Family law considerations

  • A litigator’s tips on effective planning and risk management

Who Should Attend:

  • Wills, trusts and estate lawyers and their paralegals

  • Personal representatives

  • Accountants and tax professionals

  • Financial planners

  • Trust officers

  • Notaries

Agenda

9:00 - Welcome and Introduction by PBLI

9:05 - Chairs’ Welcome and Introduction

David Hunter
Hamilton Duncan Armstrong + Stewart Law Corporation

Emma Ferguson
Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP

9:10 - Planning for People with Disabilities

Catherine Kim
Boughton Law Corporation

  • Planning to benefit a person with disabilities

  • Planning for a client with disabilities

  • Preserving benefits

  • Qualified disability trusts and their tax treatment

  • RDSPs

10:00 - Questions and Discussion

10:10 - Morning Break

10:25 - Incapacity Planning: Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements

Zachary Murphy-Rogers
Clark Wilson LLP

Allison Sharkey
Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers

  • Drafting and using powers of attorney to permit inter vivos transfers, including to trusts, and gifts

  • Springing vs. enduring powers of attorney

  • Representation agreements – considerations for s. 7 vs. s. 9 agreements

  • Considerations for clients when choosing the right appointee(s)

  • Anticipating issues with third party acceptance – LTSA and financial institutions

11:15 - Questions and Discussion

11:25 - Using Joint Tenancies and Bare Trusts in Estate Planning

Michael Scott
Clark Wilson LLP

  • Complicating factors when using bare trusts

  • Complicating factors when using joint tenancies

  • Tax filing requirements

12:15 - Questions and Discussion

12:25 - Lunch Break

1:25 - Using Trusts in Estate Planning

Fiona Hunter
Horne Coupar LLP

  • Alter ego and joint spousal trusts

  • Inter vivos vs. testamentary trusts

  • Transferring real property to trusts

  • Planning for the 21-year deemed disposition

2:15 - Questions and Discussion

2:25 - Afternoon Break

2:40 - The Intersection of Estate Planning and Family Law

Nicole Garton
Heritage Law & Heritage Trusts

  • Changes to the Family Law Act in 2023 that estate planners should be aware of

  • Treatment of discretionary trusts under the Family Law Act

  • Planning for blended families

    • Using alter ego and joint spousal trusts

    • Use of cohabitation and marriage agreements

3:30 - Questions and Discussion

3:40 - Planning Tips from a Litigator’s Perspective

Derek Frenette
Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP

  • The most commonly litigated issues

  • Managing risk at the front end

  • The standard of care lawyers are held to when advising clients

  • Drafting tips to avoid challenges

4:30 - Questions and Discussion

4:40 - Chairs’ Closing Remarks - Program Concludes

Meet the Co-Chairs

  • Partner, Hamilton Duncan Law Corporation, Surrey, BC

    David Hunter is a partner of Hamilton Duncan and Co-Chair of its Estate and Trust Litigation department. David has a civil litigation practice with a primary focus on estate and trust litigation. He represents executors, trustees, attorneys, beneficiaries, and other individuals in all levels of court in British Columbia. David has experience in a variety of estate and trust-related disputes, including undue influence and capacity claims, construction and variation of wills and trusts, determination of spousal status, and contentious matters of estate and trust administration. He also advises executors and trustees in the administration of estates and trusts, as wells as clients concerned about elder financial abuse. David is a past president of the Fraser Valley Estate Planning Council and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in Trusts and Estates since 2020.

  • Associate Counsel, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP, Vancouver, BC

    Emma has a broad wills, estates and trusts practice. She advises clients on all aspects of estate and incapacity planning, including wills, alter ego, joint partner and family trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare representation agreements. Emma also advises clients on the administration of estates, including applications for grants of probate and letters of administration. Emma regularly presents on topics related to wills, estates and trusts and family law, and has a particular interest in the intersection of these two areas of law. She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association (Wills, Estates and Trusts, and Family Law subsections); Vancouver Bar Association; Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners; and Estate Planning Council of Vancouver.

Meet the Faculty

  • Partner, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP, Vancouver, BC

    Derek is a member of the AHBL’s Wills, Estates + Trusts; Labour + Employment; Business Disputes; Intellectual Property + Technology; and Insurance practice groups. He has a broad business litigation practice which includes contractual, shareholder, employment, human rights, and intellectual property disputes. Derek also has a particular interest in estate and trust disputes, including wills variation, will validity, trustee and executor liability, and trustee remuneration cases. He also drafts employment agreements and policies, and prosecutes trade-mark and copyright registrations. His practice takes him to multiple jurisdictions, to the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Canada, and to numerous tribunals including the British Columbia and Canada Human Rights Tribunals, the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the British Columbia Employment Standards Tribunal, and the federal Trade-Marks Opposition Board.

  • Partner, Horne Coupar, Victoria, BC

    Fiona Hunter is a partner at Horne Coupar LLP, named one of Canada's Top 5 Trusts & Estates Law Boutiques by Canadian Lawyer. Fiona practises exclusively in estate planning with an emphasis on trusts, and acts as a mediator in estate litigation. She has been qualified as an expert on trust matters by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Fiona authors the Canadian edition of Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Canada (LexisNexis Canada 2016, 4th ed), and is a co-editor of and contributor to two publications: Financial and Estate Planning for the Mature Client in BC (LexisNexis Butterworths) and British Columbia Estate Planning and Wealth Preservation (CLEBC). She also authors an online wills practice resource for LexisNexis. Fiona has been an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria, teaching the Succession course at the Law School. She has presented at many professional legal education seminars and conferences, as well as public education seminars on a variety of estate planning and estate litigation topics, including elder abuse and adult guardianship. Fiona has served as past chair of both the Wills and Trusts Section (Victoria) and the Elder Law Section (BC) of the Canadian Bar Association. She is a past president of the Estate Planning Council of Victoria and has served on the boards of the University of Victoria Foundation, the Art Gallery of Victoria and its Foundation and on the Advisory Council for Our Place Society. She is the past chair of the Senior Estate and Trusts Practitioners Forum, a national group of leading estate and trust practitioners in Canada. She has been a member of the Discipline Committee of the Law Society of British Columbia and is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the International Society of Estate and Trust Practitioners and the Estate Planning Council of Victoria and the Estate Planning Council of Canada. Fiona has been recognized by her peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in Canada since 2008 and has twice been named ‘Lawyer of the Year’ (most recently in 2019) for Vancouver Island region in the area of estate planning. In 2021, she was recognized as ‘volunteer of the year’ by the Vancouver Branch of STEP.

  • Counsel, Boughton Law, Vancouver, BC

    Catherine practises in estate and trust planning, as well as estate administration. She focuses on personal estate and business succession planning and advises on matters such as: wealth preservation, probate minimization and incapacity planning. Catherine’s background in tax also equips her to navigate various income tax and regional real estate tax issues and to provide comprehensive solutions that complement her extensive background in estates and corporate law. She works with accountants, investment professionals and other advisors to implement proactive and practical solutions for individuals, owner-managers of small and medium-sized businesses and professionals of various disciplines.

  • Associate, Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver, BC

    Zachary maintains both a litigation practice and a solicitor’s practice in the areas of Estates & Trusts, Charities & Not-for-Profits, Surrogacy Law and Elder Law. His offerings include incapacity and estate planning advice and document drafting, including trusts for disabled beneficiaries; estate and trust administration services, including acting as an executor/administrator/administrator-pending-litigation of estates; wills variation and undue influence claims; committeeship applications; dealing with foreign grants of probate; and advice on the rights and obligations of beneficiaries, executors, and trustees. In 2021, his team was a Contentious Trusts & Estates Team finalist for the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ (STEP) international Private Client Awards, and Zachary is currently an Associate member of STEP on the path to receiving his TEP designation.

  • TEP, Partner, Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver, BC

    Michael’s practice is primarily focused in the areas of wills, estates and trusts. Michael advises clients on preparation of wills, powers of attorney, representation agreements and all forms of trusts. Michael acts for executors and trustees to assist them with their various duties in the course of an estate or trust administration. Michael also acts for business owners in connection with succession planning related matters.

  • Associate, Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver, BC

    Allison practices in the area of trust and estate planning and administration. Allison assists clients with the preparation of wills, powers of attorney, representation agreements, and trusts. She also assists clients in obtaining grants of probate and grants of administration for estates and advises on the ongoing administration of trusts and estates.

Registration Form

Program:

Estate Planning 2024

Date:

January 31, 2024

Location:

UBC Robson Square (800 Robson Street - Classroom level), Vancouver, BC

Registration:

The registration fee is $890.00 plus GST of $44.50 totalling $934.50 for webinar and in-person attendance. Registration fee covers your attendance at the program and electronic materials. In-person attendance includes a catered lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

Early Bird Discount:

Register by January 3rd, 2024 and receive a $100 discount on the registration fee ($790.00 plus GST). Discounts cannot be combined.

Group Discount:

Register four persons from the same organization at the same time and you are entitled to a complimentary fifth registration. Discounts cannot be combined.

If you would like to register a group, please fill out this form and email it to registrations@pbli.com:

DOWNLOAD FORM

Payment:

You may pay by VISA, Master Card or cheque. Cheques should be made payable to the Pacific Business & Law Institute and mailed to Unit 2-2246 Spruce Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 2P3. Please do not send cheques via courier with signature required.

When and Where:

Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. The program starts at 9:00 a.m. (PDT). UBC Robson Square is located at 800 Robson Street in Vancouver, BC, and our event will take place on the classroom level. Please visit https://robsonsquare.ubc.ca/find-us/ for directions.

Materials:

The faculty will prepare papers and/or other materials explaining many of the points raised during this program. Materials will be distributed electronically. Please contact us at registrations@pbli.com if you are unable to attend the program and wish to purchase a set of materials.

Cancellations/Transfers:

Refunds will be given for cancellations (less a $60.00 administration fee) if notice is received in writing five full business days prior to the program (January 24, 2024). After that time we are unable to refund registration fees. Substitutions will be permitted. We reserve the right to cancel, change or revise the date, faculty, content, availability of webinar or venue and transfer in-person registration to webinar registration for this event.

To register by phone:

Telephone us: 604-730-2500

Your Privacy:

We will keep all information that you provide to us in strict confidence, other than to prepare a delegate list containing your name, title, firm and city for our faculty and the program delegates. We do not share our mailing lists with any non-affiliated organization.

Course Accreditation:

Attendance at this course can be listed for up to 6 hours of continuing professional development credits with the Law Society of BC. For practitioners in other jurisdictions, please check your governing body’s CPD requirements.

If you would like to register a group, please fill out this form (DOWNLOAD FORM) and email it to registrations@pbli.com; for individual registration, please continue with form below.