It’s a new year!  While many of us are probably happy to be waving goodbye to 2020, the start of a new year is a great time to review and assess your personal and corporate administrative matters.  This last year introduced some new requirements that clients should be aware of and also left us with new perspectives on what things may look for us going forward.

On the corporate side, the new corporate transparency register requirements took effect as of October 1, 2020 (for more information, see our blog “Corporate Transparency Register” here: https://touchstonelawgroup.com/corporate-transparency-register/.  To be in good standing with the British Columbia Registry, all companies are now required to create and maintain a corporate transparency register.  We recommend reviewing your corporate records to ensure you are up to date on these requirements.

As of November 30, 2020, we also saw changes in the real estate world with the implementation of the Land Owner Transparency Register.   For all transfers of land registered on or after November 30, 2020, these requirements must be met. Additionally, all existing reporting bodies (including various companies, trusts and partnerships), must file a Transparency Register and Declaration for each property it owns on or before November 30, 2021.  For some introductory information on the Land Owner Transparency Registry, please see our blog here: https://touchstonelawgroup.com/introduction-land-owner-transparency-register/. Also, stay tuned over the next few weeks for our blog series covering the Land Owner Transparency Registry.

The new year is always a good time to look at your personal affairs including your estate planning and asset holdings.  For some people, changes over time come slowly and result in circumstances that may warrant changes to wills, powers of attorney and health care documents.  As well, changes in your life may drive you to reconsider how you hold real estate and other assets (i.e. should your assets be held jointly with a spouse or alternatively, has an owner passed away and title should be updated to address that situation).  There are lots of life changes, large and small, that may change the way you want to organize these affairs.

As always, our team is happy to meet with you (virtually where appropriate) to discuss your needs and guide you through these matters.

We wish you all the best in 2021 and look forward to working with you!

Author: Una Kuzio