Many business owners don’t think about the structure of their business. At some point it’s likely that you’ll want to change from a sole proprietorship to an incorporation. We break down exactly when that point is.

Understanding Henson Trusts: An Essential Estate Planning Tool for Disabled Beneficiaries

Understand the essentials of employment contracts with Parr Business Law.

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

• Family property vs. excluded property

• Debt incurred during marriage

• Agreements between spouses during separation proceedings

When a married couple (or a non-married couple who has lived together for at least two years) separates, their shared property is divided according to guidelines set by the Family Law Act of British Columbia.

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

- What is income?

- What is a gift?

- How are gifts taxed?

- Exceptions to gift taxation

- Gifts from employers to employees

- Gifts of capital property

- Gift tax credits

What is income?

Before we discuss gifts and how they’re taxed, we need to first define income.

Vern Krishna, a leading Canada tax lawyer, defined income succinctly as a “measure of gain that derives from capital, from labor, or from both combined.”

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

• What is probate?

• What are the benefits of having multiple wills?

• What are the risks of having multiple wills?

According to the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, all citizens of British Columbia are allowed to use multiple wills. That’s great news for anyone looking to avoid probate fees.

But before we get into the specifics, let’s first cover the basics.

What is probate?

Probate is the process by which a court of law administers certain parts of your estate after your death. Generally speaking, probate is only concerned with assets in your estate that are owned solely by you, whereas the jointly-owned assets in your estate, such as insurance policies, retirement savings, and so on, will not need to go through the probate process.

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

- What is an estate freeze?

- When should I freeze my estate?

- What are the tax benefits of an estate freeze?

- Avoiding capital gains upon death

- Income-splitting opportunities

- Multiplying the lifetime capital gain exemption (LCGE)

What is an estate freeze?

An estate freeze allows you to transfer your business to the next generation without incurring immediate capital gains taxes, all while retaining control of the business and maintaining a steady stream of income.

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

- The two legal risks of gifts and inheritances

- Divorce settlement

- Providing financial assistance to your children

Divorce Settlement

There are many reasons why a divorce might go from bad to worse. One area that’s particularly prone to get messy is gifts and inheritances – shorthand for assets gifted to a single family member by a third party.

Principal Residence Exemption: What Every Canadian Business Owner Needs to Know

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

- What are the qualifications for the principal residence tax exemption?

- Residential properties

- Sole or joint ownership properties

- “Ordinarily inhabit”

- Designation as principal residence

- Limitations of the PRE

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:
- How to transfer your business to the next generation
- Estate freeze
- Family trust
- Section 85 rollover
- Common shares

How to transfer your business to the next generation

A common mistake business owners make when transferring their business to non-arms-length individuals (e.g. their children, siblings, etc.) is setting the value of their business at a nominal amount – essentially gifting their business to the next generation.

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

- What the benefit is of a corporate will (also known as a ‘secondary’ or ‘restricted’ will)

Why you may need a corporate will

Most Canadians don’t have a single will, let alone multiple wills to cover their various assets. So, why might you need a corporate will? The answer is simple: reduced probate fees.

Corporate wills deal with the certain types of corporate property that you hold (e.g. privately held shares). Typically, before assets in your estate can be disbursed, the will needs to go through probate – an approval process that takes time and costs money, specifically roughly 1.4 percent of the value of the assets being probated. At face value, this might not seem like a lot of money, but it can become quite expensive, especially for large estates. However, eligible corporate property, if properly managed through a corporate will, doesn’t need to go through probate.