Tax
-
October 10, 2025
SCC clarifies when Quebec 10-year ‘extinctive prescription’ period reboots for collecting on judgments
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 9-0 in a Quebec appeal that filing and serving a notice to seize property counts as a judicial application interrupting the 10-year deadline to collect payment on a judgment — thereby restarting for a further 10 years the “extinctive prescription” period (comparable to a limitation period in the common law provinces) that applies to rights resulting from most money judgments under art. 2924 of the Civil Code of Québec.
-
October 10, 2025
Budget 2025 to automate tax benefits, expand school food program
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced measures from the upcoming federal budget to lower costs for Canadians, including automating federal benefits, making the school food program permanent and renewing the Canada Strong Pass.
-
October 10, 2025
Future capital gains tax may assist parties when equalizing or dividing family assets on separation
No one likes income tax. However, in the context of family law property division and equalization, future capital gains tax may work to the advantage of a spouse. The British Columbia Court of Appeal decision Dignard v. Dignard, 2025 BCCA 43 highlights an important and frequently arising issue in family law: how courts account for potential future tax liabilities, in this case capital gains tax, when dividing or equalizing family property.
-
October 09, 2025
Court rules U.S. charities not qualified donees under ITA despite tax convention
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the revenue minister’s decision to revoke a foundation’s charitable status over its donations to U.S. charities, ruling that a Canada-U.S. treaty provides tax relief but does not make U.S. charities qualified donees under the Income Tax Act (ITA).
-
October 09, 2025
The horrors of homemade wills: When good intentions go bad
It’s a story estate lawyers know all too well: someone decides to “save a few bucks” by writing their own will — only for the family to end up spending thousands in legal fees after their death. While homemade wills might seem like a simple solution, the reality is far more complicated. The law sets out strict requirements for how a will must be made, and even the smallest misstep can leave your loved ones in legal limbo.
-
October 09, 2025
Theme of World Day Against Death Penalty 2025: Use of death penalty as tool to oppress
This Friday marks the 23rd World Day Against the Death Penalty. On this day, abolitionists around the world call on governments that retain the practice to abolish capital punishment. We also use the day to draw attention to individual cases of those facing execution and plead for clemency, commutation or a reconsideration of the case altogether. A theme this year in the cases we are highlighting is the use of the death penalty as a tool to oppress.
-
October 08, 2025
Fraser calls provinces’ demand to scrap Ottawa’s SCC arguments on notwithstanding clause ‘untenable’
Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser has pushed back against the demands of five premiers that Ottawa should drop its novel arguments at the Supreme Court that there are substantive constraints on governments’ powers to invoke the Charter’s s. 33 “notwithstanding” clause — arguments that those five provinces contend “represent a complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain that brought the Charter into being” in 1982.
-
October 08, 2025
Troy McEachren joins McCarthy Tétrault’s tax group
McCarthy Tétrault has announced that Troy McEachren has joined the firm as a partner in its national tax group in Montreal.
-
October 07, 2025
Attorney General Sean Fraser tells SCC the law needs to protect people with ‘no voice’
There was a celebratory mood at the opening ceremony for the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2025-26 court year, but Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser and other legal leaders delivered a sober message to the Ottawa courtroom packed with lawyers and judges.
-
October 07, 2025
Lawyer ordered to pay costs for non-disclosure of gen AI use and citing fake precedents in court
In a cautionary case for litigation lawyers who use generative artificial intelligence (AI) for court submissions, a Federal Court associate judge recently hit an immigration lawyer with personal costs for submitting two defective AI-generated precedents and for breaching the Federal Court’s requirement to disclose any generative AI use in court filings.