In the Gazette article, Nathalie Marchand, a partner at
Miller Thomson’s Montréal office and one of the editors of its coming book,
Miller Thomson on Estate Planning (published by Carswell with a release date
this fall), discusses the biggest challenges facing estate planning among non-traditional families. « Once an RRSP,
RRIF, LIF or LIRA has been rolled over to a surviving spouse, they then control all
benefits of that policy or account. They become the new owners of the plan. As
such, they make decisions as to how the funds are invested, what the flow of
income might be and to whom to direct the proceeds remaining (if any) at their
own death. Controlling registered plans from the grave is simply not possible,”
she says.
Read the full article: John Archer: Few options on
tap to divide estate in non-traditional family
