The legal industry has shown it can adapt to disruption. But it has further to go in partnering with alternative service providers… Keep Reading

DoProcess, Canada's #1 provider of practice specific software for legal professionals specializing in conveyancing, corporate entity management, estate planning and estate administration, announced that it has purchased all shares of Toronto-based Lex Cortex Ltd. Keep Reading

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Ontario to reconsider the role of technology in the drafting and storage of wills... Keep Reading

On today’s podcast, Rebecca Rauws and Garrett Horrocks discuss the execution of Wills in the midst of COVID-19, and how the emergency measures introduced this year may impact how Wills are executed in the future… Keep Reading

Ontario is considering converting emergency pandemic measures on signing wills electronically into permanent legal reforms... Keep Reading

Ontario announced this week it will allow lawyers to facilitate virtual witnessing of wills as an emergency measure. The change comes as wills and estates lawyers… Keep Reading

As a surge of Canadians engage in estate planning in response to the coronavirus outbreak, an Ontario court will hear a case next week to determine… Keep Reading

Canadians concerned about the personal ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic are rushing to update their will and sign power of attorney documents… Keep Reading

NoticeConnect has started an online petition to the Ontario Government calling for a change to section 4 of the Succession Law Reform Act (the “SLRA”)... Keep Reading

We have previously blogged about NoticeConnect’s Canada Will Registry. The Will Registry allows lawyers and law firms to register their clients’ estate… Keep Reading

The combination of Canada’s aging population and continued technological advancements has resulted in more quality tools available to help in the estate-planning and administration process. It’s important for... Keep Reading

NoticeConnect’s Canada Will Registry aims to make estate administration easier and more cost-effective by providing a centralized platform on which to register a person’s will. Registration can... Keep Reading

The legal profession is often criticized for its archaic and antiquated appearance. Images of a lawyer wheeling around a 30-kilogram, 40,000-page file-folder that, if digitized... Keep Reading

If you have a lawyer, accountant and financial planner, you will have been reminded about the importance of having a written will. An equally important question is how you notify your... Keep Reading

At least once a week over the last 18 years, I have had to end a will signing on an uncomfortable note. Shortly after the document has been signed and my staff have left the room to... Keep Reading

There is no shortage of complications, stress and potential expense that can occur when a will cannot be located following a party’s death. This is particularly true in Ontario, where the law... Keep Reading

As we have blogged on previously, will registries are a mechanism which may help parties avoid a missing will debacle altogether. One such registry is the new Canada Will Registry... Keep Reading

NoticeConnect will launch the Canada Will Registry on May 27, a tool to help law firms upload and manage the wills in their vaults and help people search for them. Ultimately, the company... Keep Reading

Why? Well on this day we were told that another bunch of Alberta Community papers was being shut down. Six local community papers to be exact... Keep Reading

The two Toronto-based companies hope that by the end of July or the start of August 2018, customers of both of their products will find a trouble-free experience moving between both service...Keep Reading

… as more practitioners begin to use online services, like NoticeConnect, in the future, printed newspaper advertising may eventually be rendered obsolete. Keep Reading

However, in a Judgment rendered on July 7, 2017, in the Estate of Corrol Allen Dale, Justice Conway held that a Notice to Creditors posted on noticeconnect.com was sufficient to grant a trustee protection from personal liability under section 53(1) of the Trustee Act ... Keep Reading

In the past, executors routinely placed ads in the classified sections of newspapers to gain such protection. It was unclear however, whether online advertising, which is much cheaper than newspaper advertising, complied with the relevant provisions of Ontario’s Trustee Act. So the Ontario court ruling bestows receive piece of mind, but also saves estate trustees some money. Advertising for creditors on NoticeConnect.com costs only $150… Keep Reading

...Estate Trustees who properly advertise through NoticeConnect may proceed to distribute assets of an estate with the peace of mind that they will not be held personally liable should a claim against an estate later arise ... Keep Reading

Notice Connect, a website for estate trustees in Canada to post legal notices to creditors upon someone’s death, has been recognized by the Ontario Superior Court on July 7, in a court order, as satisfying requirements of the Trustee Act for the estate trustee’s duty to advertise for creditors … Keep Reading

Thanks to a July 7 Ontario Superior Court ruling, estates advertising for creditors are now allowed to publish online notices instead of running newspaper ads … Keep Reading

Estate lawyers, estate trustees and personal representatives dealing with an Ontario estate may be able to breathe a sigh of relief when dealing with estate notices for creditors due to a recent court ruling … Keep Reading

Until now, advertising for creditors was always done in the local newspaper. Given the fact that newspaper circulation has been declining for years and that most people now use the internet to find information, it makes sense to ask whether the method of advertising should be updated …Keep Reading

There can be little doubt that the future of many of our interactions – social and commercial – will be online. An Ontario Superior Court decision issued today confirms this applies to the administration of estates as well … Keep Reading

Based on the convenience and cost-efficiency of online advertising, we may be able to avoid a significant disturbance in the process of administering estates due to the fact that the Ontario Gazette will no longer publish private notices. Change can be a good thing and if we can adapt accordingly, we may be able to establish a new and more efficient customary way of advertising for creditors. Keep Reading

It’s a great way to do it because the trustee is required to run notices for a period of 30 days before an estate can be settled, and the NoticeConnect posting is live for a year… Keep Reading

If you're an executor thinking about placing an advertisement, check it out… Keep Reading

Thankfully, there is a new service we have come across and recently used in our more straightforward estates. The service is called "NoticeConnect". Details can be found at www.noticeconnect.com. Essentially this is an online Notice to Creditors that is a far more economical choice than placing a print Notice to Creditors… Keep Reading

... It is worth considering advertising for creditors online. Advertising through an online service may be more cost effective than in a newspaper ... Using a service to publish notice to creditors has the potential to reach a larger majority of individuals, in a more cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the internet has the ability to provide information to creditors that may be located outside of the deceased’s jurisdiction, allowing for the advertisement to reach more individuals as compared to a newspaper advertisement that is generally confined to one jurisdiction… Keep Reading

If you’re an estate trustee (either an executor or an administrator), you should be advertising for creditors to protect yourself from personal liability. But with the emergence of advertising for creditors online, this doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive… Keep Reading

The Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) at Ryerson University and Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General announced the six stage one winners in the Ontario Access to Justice Challenge. The Ontario Access to Justice Challenge will help fuel the success of these six innovative Ontario startups that are building products and solutions that challenge the status quo of legal services and enhance access to justice… Keep Reading

... These days, however, with newspaper circulation down, it’s hard to justify running a paper ad. Enter noticeconnect.com, which allows you to publish a notice to creditors online. It is indexed and therefore searchable by the deceased’s name (if a creditor is looking), and also published on social media sites… Keep Reading

As an Estate Trustee, you are primarily responsible for the administration of the estate. One of your duties is to make sure that any outstanding debts owed by the deceased are paid from the assets of the estate. To ensure that you have found all the potential creditors of the estate, and to avoid personal liability, an Estate Trustee should advertise for creditors.… Keep Reading

... This makes a lot of sense, really. Many people nowadays read their news online. Anyone searching for information about an estate or a deceased person would most likely search online. It's a way in which the legal system has to keep up with technology… Keep Reading

Debt owing by an individual does not terminate upon death. The estate trustee is therefore obliged to satisfy any outstanding debts owing from the assets of the estate even after an individual has passed away. I recently came across a new service which assists estate trustees in locating any such debts in order to satisfy them… Keep Reading