Estate Planning

On December 20, 2006, the Ministry of Government Services Consumer Protection and Service Modernization Act, 2006 (Bill 152) received Royal Assent. The Act contained amendments to a number of statutes, including the Land Registration Reform Act, Land Titles Act and Registry Act, to address issues related to real estate fraud.

The Ministry recently released a Land Registration Bulletin (No. 2008-02, dated March 7, 2008), which provides information related to, among other things, new registration requirements for powers of attorney and any documents registered under the authority of a power of attorney.  These include the following:

·           A law statement will be necessary when an individual registers any document under the authority of a Power of Attorney. In these cases, a lawyer will be required to discuss the Power of Attorney with their clients and provide the requisite law statement.

·           A law statement will not be required in documents signed under the authority of a Power of Attorney given by a corporation or a bank. In those cases, the attorney will be required to make a statement that they are acting within the scope of the Power of Attorney.

·           The original signed and witnessed Power of Attorney must be scanned into the electronic registration of a Power of Attorney.

·           Most of the existing statements in an electronic Power of Attorney and Revocation of Power of Attorney document are being retired and replaced with new statements, which are particularized in the Bulletin.

Keep in mind that these changes take effect on April 7, 2008.

Have a good day,

Natalia