Thinking about appointing a foreign executor in your will? Think again. – RMS Estates Law

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Thinking about appointing a foreign executor in your will? Think again.

RMS Estates Law
May 15, 2020

There are many implications of appointing a foreign executor in your will. Here are a few to consider:

– A foreign executor poses difficulties to the administration of the estate because sometimes a bond will be required to be posted as security by the foreign executor, which will add to the costs of administration. A direction in the will can be included that the testator does not intend for the foreign executor to pay the bond, but this is not binding and it is ultimately in the discretion of the court to decide;

– There could be problems with operating bank accounts in Canada (for example, due to problems with a US resident giving instructions to an investment advisor in Canada). Additional paperwork will be required for the executor to file in their country of residence;

– There are practical considerations to think about: a person who is not physically present in Ontario will have difficulty administering an Ontario estate because most of the time, they are required to physically attend to things like opening a bank account, going through the deceased’s possessions and determining what to do with them; if the deceased had a business, the executor would have to run their business or arrange for someone to do that until the estate is administered. They can hire a lawyer or trust company to help with all of this while they are away, but this would increase the cost to the estate, which would decrease the amount of money received by the beneficiaries;

– If there are trusts set up in the will, a foreign executor might change the situs (i.e. “seat”) of the trust from Ontario to their country of residence, which means that the trust could become exposed to that country’s taxes as well as Canadian taxes.

If you have questions about this, I would love to help!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG IS MERELY FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE.

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