Nick Davies, senior Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes lawyer just had a nice win for his client in the BC Court of Appeal in Baryla v. Baryla.
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MacLean Family Law appeal lawyers handle high stakes cases including million dollar financial disputes and associated Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes issues. A failure to properly consider these often significant Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes costs can mean you are getting far less than an equal division of BC family property.
In recent years, The BC Court of Appeal has become more cognizant and more willing to recognize the fairness of considering latent ( future taxes) when dividing assets like the family home ( no tax on sale) and a business (heavy tax on sale normally). The key is to make sure a division is apples to apples and not one where someone gets apples and someone gets lemons.
Hiring Savvy Senior Vancouver Family Lawyers Is Key
Make sure you hire a savvy senior family lawyer who also knows both tax and corporate law such as Nick Davies, Lorne MacLean, QC, or any one of the other senior lawyers at MacLean Law to avoid problems. Maclean Law has just won 2019 Top Choice Awards Top* Vancouver Family Lawyers designation for the 5th time.
Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes
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In Baryla, Nick Davies for the appellant successfully challenged:
- the amount of a compensation payment,
- the failure to deal with distributive taxes, and
- the awarding of spousal support after an equal division of assets.
The Appeal Was Allowed and A New Trial Ordered. Call 1 877 602 9900
In subsequent blogs, we deal with the issue of double dipping on spousal support when a property is divided and income later generated on it is considered for spousal support purposes and the right of survivorship and the intention to make a gift in these circumstances. Both topics are important in high net worth divorce cases.
Today we focus on Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes. In Baryla here is what the Court of Appeal said:
[36] The parties brought tax information to the judge by filing with the court seven tax opinions of an accountant, which sought to address questions raised by the parties and the judge. The judge found that information unhelpful for various reasons, as mentioned, and inadmissible for technical reasons.
[37] The judge then made an order limiting the sharing of tax burdens to an asset not subject to tax on disposition (the 1511 Property, the parties’ principal residence) and an asset that was not intended to be sold (the Mabel Lake Property, a recreational property). The judge did not determine the tax issues on which professional opinions had been sought. There is no explanation for the judge’s failure to consider tax implications associated with the 1513 Property, the Arizona Property or the parties’ investment accounts.
[38] This Court has held that corporate and distributive taxes can and should be taken into account where there is appropriate evidence: Maguire v. Maguire, 2016 BCCA 431 at paras. 38–39; Sinai v. Mahmoud, 2017 BCCA 155 at paras. 31–35. Simply put, if some assets have inherent tax liabilities and others do not, it could be unfair to allocate the assets “equally”, without taking into account the tax liabilities.
[39] In this case the parties made significant efforts to bring before the judge the necessary information to take tax considerations into account. While the judge may have had justification for rejecting some of the opinions before her, in my view there was not justification for substantially abandoning the effort to take tax consequences into account, on which both parties made submissions.
[40] Although Mr. Baryla would have this Court make orders to facilitate property division by asset class to address some of these concerns, those are matters for the trial court to determine on receipt of appropriate evidence. The same would apply to his related submission that the court place a temporal limit on any obligation to share in the tax consequences of the disposition of property. That too is a matter for the trial court.
Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes cases are complex. We handle cases involving international property division and income cases where different tax rules and rates apply and where double taxation can occur in more than one country.
Don’t be left with a bowl of lemons in your Vancouver Family Property Distributive Taxes case.
Call 1 877 602 9900 to reach the top-rated* family lawyers at MacLean Law to get your fair share of support and family property division.
*Top Choice Award (2014, 2016, 2017 2018, 2019), Top rated reviews on Google, Yelp, threebestrated, lawerratingz.com. Read more about our awards.
