In this issue - #135 May 28, 2010

A Representation Agreement is a legal planning document which can be used in British Columbia to provide your named representative with the authority to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to do so because of mental or physical disability.

In the March 31, 2010 issue of Legal Alert I wrote an article entitled “Will Your Trust be Subject to a Canada Revenue Agency Audit? Are You Prepared?”.  That article included the suggestion that trusts should be reviewed to ensure that the effect of the 21-year deemed disposition rule has been considered.

On July 1, 2010, the new British Columbia Supreme Court Family Law Rules (the “Family Law Rules”) come into effect. It is the first time where a family law proceeding is governed by its own complete code – that is to say these rules are restricted to family law procedures exclusively.

In British Columbia, all vehicles must be insured for basic insurance from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia  ((“ICBC”), known as Autoplan Insurance.  A basic Autoplan policy provides for:

Just about any employment lawyer will tell employers that, in most cases, it’s really not worth suing former employees.  Generally speaking, the costs of recovering debts for minor theft, repayment of unearned relocation and training allowances, etc. will outweigh what the employer could hope to recover.

In the last several years our top court (the Supreme Court of Canada) has tinkered with the amount of damages that should be awarded to employees who are terminated in an unenlightened way.

Operating a business through a corporation is a long-standing and acceptable form of protecting individuals from claims of creditors of the business. Likewise, holding high-value investment assets (such as real estate or a stock portfolio) in a separate holding is a legitimate way to protect the value of those investments from future creditors of an operating company. But, as was demonstrated by the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Botham Holdings Ltd. (Trustee of) v. Braydon Investments Ltd., the manner in which such corporate structures are initially set up is critical and, if done incorrectly, can have disastrous consequences.