The winner will be announced at the 2009 Annual Presidents Dinner and Business Excellence Awards

Capilano Golf & Country Club

Presentation Ceremony, Silent Auction, Dinner & Dance

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 from 6:00pm to 11:00pm

Tickets $95.00 each.

To register: http://www.westvanchamber.com/events1.html

Family Law Dispute Resolution Options for Clients Presentation Slides

Presentation Slides for Heritage Law Speaking Series Event

May 27, 2009, 8:00am to 9:00am at Capilano Golf & Country Club

The annual Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch Work Life Balance Award, sponsored by Corporate Occupational Solutions Inc., is made in recognition of work life balance to the legal community by a CBA member, CBA supporting law firm or an organization that demonstrates leadership and commitment to work life balance in the practice of law. There will be a luncheon to honour the second recipient of the Work Life Balance Award on June 25, 2009 at the Sutton Place Hotel, to be presented by Attorney General Wally Oppal, QC.

The nominees this year include

• Heritage Law;
• Todd A. Rattray, Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLP;
• Pushor Mitchell LLP; and
• Barbara K. Buchanan, Law Society of British Columbia

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Stansfield died last week at 57, after six years of being treated for cancer. I interviewed him five times in the past three years and was always struck by his passion for justice and his desire that every person and every community have access to it. His desire to create the best justice system possible is now his legacy.

When he became chief judge in 2005, Stansfield brought a new feel to the office. We didn’t hear much from judges, never mind the top provincial court judge. Stansfield changed that, making himself available to media throughout the province. He was as happy to be interviewed by the Nanaimo Daily News as go on radio or TV.

As associate chief judge in the 1990s, he oversaw what became known as the criminal case flow management system. Lawyers, even some judges, grumbled about it, but Stansfield consulted widely in addition to drawing on his own experience in courthouses large and small in creating the system. Lawyers were concerned that the CCFM, as it came to be known, would alter their own case flow and cut into their billing. But Stansfield had anticipated that and was clear that the system actually created more flexibility, and that lawyers could make as much or more as under the old system.

When he first came to Nanaimo as chief judge in May 2006, Stansfield addressed a gathering of business people. He didn’t tell them what the justice system was going to do about drugs and crime, just when Victoria Crescent had seen the arrival of open drug use and dealing and the problems that went with that.

Stansfield turned the tables and invited them to join the justice system in finding a solution. I have to admit I was a little surprised, and happy, to hear that the chief judge had some good ideas about changing the perceptions of a failing justice system.

“We need to be integrating (the justice system) into communities in ways we never have before,” he said at the time. “We’re recognizing we can’t be that way, we have to open up the doors, literally and metaphorically.”

Stansfield was back in Nanaimo a month later speaking to city staff members, council members, police and Crown and defence lawyers in light of the drug plague that had invaded the downtown. Again Stansfield didn’t bring a message of stiffer sentences and harsher laws. He knew how those efforts not only fail, but compound criminality.

The most important piece, said Stansfield, was finding a way to help drug users.

“For some offenders, their lives are going to be served best by getting at their problems,” said Stansfield.

As he did with streamlining a convoluted court system designed for a past era, Stansfield went on to be the figure behind opening a drug court in Vancouver as well as the community court pilot programs. I remember his passion as he described to me the Red Hook Community Justice Centre in New York that he had visited.

If I understand Stansfield’s vision, it was for a justice system that reserved the adversarial process for serious crimes and diverted drug and mental health cases to the proper forums where they would be handled as health issues. Civil cases also needed to be moved into a realm where the courts were part of dispute resolution, not dictating a decision, he said. It’s sad Stansfield has been taken from us, but his passing will give all of us the opportunity to embrace his vision of creating a justice system that is effective as well as compassionate.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

A common misconception is that an RESP is actually a trust, and upon the death of the subscriber, the assets comprising the RESP will be held in trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries identified in the contract between the subscriber and the promoter.

Because of this misconception, many people imagine that they do not need to worry about the disposition of their RESP assets upon their death. Not correct.

In fact, upon the death of the sole subscriber or the surviving joint subscriber, the RESP becomes an asset of his or her estate and is subject to the terms of the deceased subscriber’s will. In addition, an RESP remains an asset of the estate for the purposes of creditor claims and calculation of estate administration taxes.

Typically the contract with the promoter is binding on the subscriber’s personal representatives. However, the fact that the RESP contract is binding on the subscriber’s personal representatives does not necessarily mean the personal representatives assume all of the rights of the subscriber with respect to the RESP. It may be that the contract provides that only the right to manage the RESP will flow to the personal representatives. In such a circumstance, the personal representatives would not be allowed to add or change beneficiaries, to make withdrawals, or to direct EAPs to or for the benefit of assisting a beneficiary to further his or her education at a post-secondary school level, without taking some further steps (such as making a contribution to the RESP) in order to acquire full rights as a succeeding subscriber.

It is therefore important to review the contractual terms of the RESP to determine, among other things, whether it:

(1) permits the subscriber to name a succeeding subscriber;

(2) imposes any requirements on the succeeding subscriber to make a contribution to the RESP in order to assume the full rights of the subscriber with respect to the RESP; or

(3) provides that the subscriber’s personal representatives become the succeeding subscribers.

The contractual terms of the RESP should also be reviewed in order to determine whether there are any further restrictions imposed on succeeding subscribers with respect to any other matters regarding the RESP, including the ultimate distribution of the assets of the RESP.

In short, a review of the contractual terms of the RESP is necessary to determine whether the contract provides for any other person (including the estate of a deceased individual) to acquire the deceased subscriber’s rights under the RESP and thereby become the new subscribers of the RESP for the purposes of the ITA.

This information is based on a chapter written by Laura West in British Columbia Estate Planning and Wealth Preservation.

Capilano Golf & Country Club
President’s Room
420 Southborough Drive
West Vancouver, BC
RSVP to Susan at susan@bcheritagelaw.com or 778-786-0615 ext. 112