Canadian Lawyer

46 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m Top wills, trusts & estates boutiques listed alphabetically Bales Beall LLP [Toronto] balesbeall.com Founded in 2005, Bales Beall LLP's practice, with three partners and four associates, focuses on all manner of wills and estates work, from estate planning, including powers of attorney, to litigation involving wills, estates and guardianship matters. Bales Beall acts both as advocates and personal legal advisors for its clients. Karon Bales is a certified specialist in estates and trusts and family law. She and Jessica Feldman (associate) are members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Bales is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and conducts mediations in estate and family law matters. "The firm is well run and very professional — Karon Bales is no-nonsense and results oriented," says one voter. increasingly have complex assets in the sense that they're carry- ing on in their businesses for longer and in different ways than the generations before them. "They're not necessarily people who have worked as an employee in one job their whole lives and that's it," Taylor says. "They've got business interests, they've got all sorts of sophisti- cated kinds of arrangements." The real estate market, especially for Taylor in British Colum- bia, is also bringing its own challenges to the practice. "There's been a lot of rapid law reform in the last couple of months, certainly in B.C.," she says. "We've had all these issues about chilling the real estate market, so they've changed rules about property transfer tax, they've also changed the federal rules about principal residences, so dealing with that when you're try- ing to plan into the future adds to the challenge." There is also the wealth generated by people who bought their homes in the 60s and it's appreciated significantly in value. Taylor says these families often didn't have a lot of wealth, because it was tied up in the house, but all of a sudden clients have to consider large sums and how they want to plan for that, and wills, trusts and estates lawyers are tasked with helping transition that wealth in a way that is going to allow people to learn about the ways you manage wealth. "People are dying with their multi-million-dollar homes," Taylor says. "They have a steep learning curve as to what to do with it." We are delighted to have been selected as one of Canadian Lawyer's Top 5 Trusts & Estates Boutiques. Thank you to our peers for their support and confidence. TORONTO OFFICE Thomson Building, 65 Queen Street West, Suite 1700 Toronto, Ontario M5H 2M5 T. 416.860.1057 I F. 416.367.2502 BOWMANVILLE OFFICE 55 Temperance Street Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3A7 T. 905.623.5252 I F. 905.623.5573 www.estatelitigation.net Untitled-3 1 2016-12-14 12:03 PM

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