Articles 2021

When parties decide to separate, there are a number of decisions that need to be made. Often, the parties are focused on making life-changing decisions such as making new living arrangements, settling on custody and access rights, figuring out what their new lives will look like, taking into account support payments and the division of marital assets. However, the same decisions and agreements made following a separation can affect their tax and financial well being for years to come.

On December 15, the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) released additional details regarding the availability of employee deductions for work from home expenses and the taxation of certain employer provided employee benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accountants, valuators and anyone else who provides or assists in providing information (to the CRA or to taxpayers) respecting income tax or GST/HST (“Advisors”) should be aware of their potential liability for “advisor penalties." Advisors generally know that their clients could face gross negligence penalties in appropriate cases of “reprehensible recklessness." However, it is less well known that Advisors risk similar penalties if their actions reach “culpable conduct.”

Most industries across the globe have been affected by recent world events. As lawyers, we've had to address new trends and demands in the market, including greater complexity in Canada/U.S. cross-border personal tax and estate planning.

In December 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada has released a much-anticipated decision on the contractual duty of honest performance, which principle the SCC recognized as a “new” good faith doctrine, formulated in its previous decision Bhasin v. Hyrnew . In Callow, the SCC was divided in its views on the duty of honest performance, with a five-judge panel rendering the majority decision, three judges concurring and one strongly dissenting.

Young offenders need equal, if not more, protection than adults. Section 37(10) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) hinders access to justice for youth. This provision of the YCJA was recently analyzed by the Supreme Court of Canada in C.P. v Her Majesty the Queen.

It's a new year with a new amendment to Ontario's virtual mediation rules. Here's a primer on how this amendment, regarding election on mediation forum, impacts lawyers and mediators in Ontario.

Only two civil decisions were released this week, one of them short. In Oakville (Town) v Sullivan, the Court’s first reported decision of 2021, the Court addressed an encroachment upon a hydro easement. Please mark down April 27, 2021, from 5:30-7:45pm in your calendars for our fifth annual “Top Appeals” CLE, which will take place via Zoom. Visit https://www.cbapd.org/details_en.aspx?id=ON_ON21CIV03I for more information and to register.

Chief Justice Strathy of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Chief Justice Morawetz of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and Chief Justice Maisonneuve of the Ontario Court of Justice, describe the courts' response to the COVID-19 crisis, and discuss efforts being undertaken to modernize Ontario's justice system.

Experienced lawyers and new or foreign lawyers alike may find commonalities in the strengths they demonstrate and the challenges they face in starting a mediation practice. Here are ten of the top insights from the first year of Gibson Chowdhury.