BarTalk April 1999
Volume 11, Number 2

by Sara Neely

Dora Maar, Picasso’s lover and principal model for nine years, passed away several years ago at the age of 90. Throughout their affair, Maar saved everything that Picasso gave her, from oil-on-canvas portraits to drawings and watercolours, considered to be among Picasso’s best. The expected proceeds at auction will be at least $25 million.

Because Dora Maar died without a Will or known heirs, the French government could have claimed her entire estate. However, two genealogists located two distant relatives. It is expected the government will receive 60 per cent and the genealogists and the heirs will share the remainder of Maar’s estate.

Dora was not alone in her lack of estate planning. A recent survey conducted by CIBC Trust Corporation revealed that about 49 per cent of Canadians do not have a Will. It is in everyone’s best interests to have an estate plan. Many argue that lawyers have a duty to encourage their clients to make a Will. If you don’t protect your clients from intestacy, who will?

We spend our lives building, using and preserving our wealth. Most of us wish to control its ultimate distribution. This is impossible without careful estate planning. After providing for family, private wealth can be directed to serve the public interest either involuntarily through the payment of taxes or voluntarily through leaving a charitable gift in a Will.

Due to increased reliance of Canadians on the charitable sector to fulfill many social responsibilities previously undertaken by government, government has enacted many tax incentives for Canadians to support the charitable sector. Since 1997, tax credits for donations can be used against up to 100 per cent of net income in the year of, and year before, death to offset taxes payable. Not only has this legislative change promoted the concept of charitable giving through wills, it has given Canadians a choice.

As it may be a lawyer’s duty to suggest a proper estate plan, is it not also the duty of lawyers to outline options for their clients in estate planning? Your clients can control whether the distribution of their wealth is in the form of tax or gift. Their choice should be a function of their values and how they want to see their wealth used.

Leave a Legacy British Columbia Campaign
To encourage British Columbians to make a Will and make a difference in the lives that follow, Leave a Legacy British Columbia is launching a month long public awareness campaign in May 1999.

Leave a Legacy British Columbia is a community-based effort that encourages people to make gifts from their estates to the not-for-profit organizations of their choice. An initiative of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners in British Columbia, Leave a Legacy British Columbia works hand in hand with local not-for-profit organizations and professional advisors. Promoted through an official website (www.leavealegacy.ca) and a media campaign, the goal of LALBC is to ensure that those without a Will understand the importance of making one, and those with or without a Will who might wish to give to charity are informed about ways to do so.

As a lawyer you can make a difference. Did you know that a 1987 Decima study showed that only seven per cent of Canadians included a charity in their Will, but that 34 per cent would have considered it if asked? The time is right to ask British Columbians to consider making an estate gift to a cause that is important to them.

For more information contact Sara Neely (see above information) or Grant Monck, LL.B. Chair, Greater Vancouver RoundTable, Canadian Association of Gift Planners at 604.675.7111.

Sara Neely LLB is the Chair of Leave a Legacy British Columbia. She can be reached at 604.875.2522.

This article was published in the April 1999 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.