Canadan Realestate laws?

[Blinkin]

I have a question that I'm someone may have some insite on. It involves Canadan realestate laws and inheritances.

A little background:

My wife's father died last week and his sister rushed the funeral and pushed for the Will to be read Friday afternoon. This was about 4 days after the death and 2 days before the funeral. The reason for the rush is because my wife's father left some land to her in the Will. We all knew about it and as the land is in Canada; actually off of the coast of Canada, and she would never see it, much less use it.

Aside from a few bequest, the land goes to the sister, everything else, included a heatedly contended 10 year old Catalac, which my wife is happy to give to the sister, everything goes to my wife. We are not yet sure what the total estate is worth, but it's not really a concern until the estate is settled.

The lawyer handling the Will has told us that settling the Will may take between a year and TWO years to settle because the land is in Canada and the Estate is here in the US. This seems excessively long to us, and so...

How is involved is the transfer of realestate via inheritance in Canada, and how does realestate taxes work?

We know that taxes are paid up to the first of this year, there are no debts or liens connected to the property; the realestate was actually purchased by the family in my wife's great-grandfather's time and passed down to the grand-father, father to the Aunt. It's an island wholely owned by the family... I think that there are currently 5 owners in what would be, in the USS, in common.

It would seem that the transfer would be neither lengthy, nor overly complicated overall, much less take a year to complete. The lawyer is, according to his woding, concerned about the taxes involved, as we are because the taxes will come out of the Estate and leave no obligation on the sister while potentially liquidating all of the other assets (That are coming to my wife). There are terms that doesn't allow fo the sell of the property, except to another family member, so any other outstanding debt, if any, becomes OUR responsibility... or so the attorney states.

So... anyone know anything about transfering land and taxes associated with it in Canada? It would seem that, as taxes are not owed until after the first of the year... and if the estate takes a year to settle, that we may be paying taxes on land we don't even own twice. Should this take a year to two years to settle?

[Thesunmaid]

Well we don't have death or inheritance tax here in Canada.its to be paid by the estate of who ever passed away. And you say that all the taxes are payed in full... But that's also taking into consideration that the dead person and the inheritor are both Canadian.

The thing that is probably holding things up is the fact that the owner and the inheritors are american(I am assuming from the wording anyway) And no offense sweetness but your countries tax law is incredibly confusing.

this is some info about Canadian inheritance and taxes but...you guys being american might be what is holding things up.

http://turbotax.intuit.ca/tax-resources/inheritance-tax.jsp

I would say talk to the lawyer and find out what will be done and why it will take so long. I mean technically the lawyer sort of works for you now since I am assuming he is being paid out of the estate which belongs to you guys now.

[Blinkin]

Thanks for the information and suggestions. I do suspect that a big part of the complication for the attorney is that both parties are in the US and the land is in Canada, one of the islands off the coast of Nova Scotia. To add to the confusion, I suspect that the attorny's trying to figure out how to value the land. The island is fairly large and held by a number of people, has some improvements and there isn't a clearly defined parcal that is being passed. It's roughly 1/10th of a square mile... how many acres that is, what part of a 5 square mile island that may be (Beach, wooded, etc) and so on. I would think that he could get a rough value based on last years taxes paid on the land, but who really knows.

I agree entirely about the US tax code. It's had some 200 years to get overly-complicated, and has been excellerated over the last 15 years in particular. Nevermind the Canadan tax code on land and usage.

Anyway, we're hoping that the whole thing won't take as long as he thinks... I can't see how it would take a year, much less 2 to settle things. Other than the land, it's a straightforward process.

[Oniya]

One tenth of a square mile is 64 acres, by my calculator.

[The Dark Raven]

And where it is would depend solely on the original survey of the parcel apportioned.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Maritime land development and management can be a little confusing, as well, since they've had two or three different sets of management laws, none of which have been fully eradicated but they've been built one on top of another (Kinda like their actual towns are). There could be quite a bit of appraising needing to be done, which could easily take six to eight months, depending on accessibility, weather (Often there's at least six months when outlying districts simply aren't accessible, from November to early May) not to mention hashing out the details with the other families that have a stake in the lands as well. Then you have their own lawyers and courts and such to get involved to make a final ruling, and before you know it, it's been a year and all you've managed to do is say "That's it! Right there, that's the scrap of land we're talking about!"

I know it seems like a long time, but when there's so many unknown factors, it's unfortunately going to be longer than we'd like. Damned law.

[Blinkin]

I can't speak for Canada, but it's possible here for land to be owned by several people but still be one parcal. The deed just list everyone as owning it in common. The land that is being dealt with here is a similar issue. No single person has sole ownership of any particular location; it's just been devided up into shares as it's passed from generation to generation. The grandfather split his share among his 3 children, he got an equal share from his father, split among 5 children, and so on.I think that the place is owned by about 30 people now, but no one has a deed to a specific piece of it.

The aunt has bought the rights to the land from other family members since the 70's and owns a significantly larger portion than most. She's hot about getting this share as well.

And, for reasons no one knows, she's obsessed with getting a 10 year old buick ; been calling the lawyer several times a day to ask specifically when she can arange for it to be transfered from my wife to her.