Category: Community posts

New Webinar: Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning for Your Loved One with a Disability

Community posts

by Plan Institute

How do you arrange your estate to support and protect your family member with a disability? This is a common question that those who have a loved-one with a disability face.

Becoming well-informed about wills, trusts and estate planning is necessary to secure the financial future of your loved one with a disability and give you peace of mind.

In response to this, we are now offering our successful Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning Workshop online to residents of British Columbia. In doing so, we’re hoping to reach individuals from all over British Columbia who may benefit from this information.

About the Webinar:

In this webinar, estate-planning attorney Brendan Pooran explains how to arrange your estate, prepare a will, and the various ins and outs of setting up a trust specifically for your relative or loved-one with a disability.

This webinar will provide participants with an introduction to the following topics:

  1. Why and how to write and update a will when there is a family member with a disability
  2. Ways in which to ensure your loved one with a disability is protected when family passes away
  3. The types of trusts available for people with disabilities, including the differences between Discretionary and Non-discretionary, Testamentary and Inter-vivos
  4. The various tax rates differences between Trusts, including recent federal changes, and their implications
  5. The roles and responsibilities of Executors and Trustees
  6. Tips for finding the right lawyer for you and your family

The webinar will also feature a live Q & A session during which a local Lawyer and a Family Expert will be available to answer your questions directly.

Who should attend:

Families/caregivers in British Columbia who have a loved-one with a disability.

Location:

Online (available to anyone in British Columbia).

For more information on this webinar, visit: https://planinstitute.ca/learning-centre/wte-webinar/

To learn more about Plan Institute, our mission and other learning opportunities for people with disabilities, their families and those who work with these individuals, please visit: https://www.planinstitute.ca

Stay Informed with Plan Institute:

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Library Month at LawMatters

Community posts, Get help using Clicklaw, The broader context

By Megan Smiley, LawMatters Program Coordinator

For those of us without legal training, legal problems can be scary and overwhelming to tackle. Without open access to useful and trusted legal information, it would be near impossible. We are lucky in BC to have a network of public legal education and information organizations working hard to improve access to justice, and local public libraries are a key part that network.

Funded by the Law Foundation of BC, LawMatters is the Courthouse Libraries BC outreach program for public libraries. We believe libraries are the key to informed and connected communities and have been working in partnership with them since 2007.

Together with our library partners, LawMatters works to enhance local public access to legal information throughout the province, from big urban centres to small rural communities. Libraries are able to buy more legal books through LawMatters grant funding, and also receive print copies of some of our most popular Clicklaw Wikibook titles at no cost, such as JP Boyd on Family law. In total, people in 241 communities can find core legal resources at their local public libraries as a result of this program and the hard work of librarians and library staff in each location.

One of the key aspects of our work is to provide training to public library staff on finding and using legal information resources – like Clicklaw.

We regularly hear from librarians that Clicklaw is their ‘go-to’ when answering patrons’ legal questions because it provides ideas for next steps, helps them point their patrons towards the best resource, and when necessary, helps them find the right referral. But it’s also true that librarians are a key part of improving Clicklaw – the relationship is complementary. Public librarians contribute valuable knowledge, expertise and insight so that we can continually develop and improve the site for all users.

People go to public libraries for the widest range of reasons.  Neil Gaiman & Chris Riddell have recently done a beautiful job of expressing the value of libraries, so I won’t attempt to do it here. But I will say to those of you who are struggling with legal issues: Don’t forget about your local public library!

They not only provide free public access to legal books, they can also provide referrals to advocates and other community organizations. They are a quiet safe space for you to think, research, and plan. Lastly, while librarians cannot give legal advice, they are a great resource because they are really good at finding current, reliable, and vetted information. They can help you find the information you need, and if not, help you find the people who can.

Stay Informed with BC LawMatters:

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