Monthly Archives: November 2014

Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) New Housing Rebate

If you are buying a newly constructed home, as per current real estate laws, you will be eligible for a HST rebate. As of July 1 2010, the Province of Ontario implemented Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) which has two separate components:

– The federal GST of 5%;

– Province’s Retail Sales Tax (RST) of 8%.

The purchase price of newly constructed homes is subject to HST of 13%. Although, the GST rebate remains in effect, a Purchaser Rebate Program has been implemented to allow reduction of the RST component of the HST payable.

What is the GST Rebate?

New home buyers can apply for a 36% rebate of the federal portion of HST applicable to the purchase price to a maximum of $6,300.00 for homes with purchase price of $350,000.00 or less. The rebate on the federal portion of HST would be calculated proportionately if the purchase price is between $350,000.00 and $450,000.00. There will be no rebate of the federal portion of the HST if the purchase price is more than $450,000.00.

What is the HST Rebate?

New home buyers can apply for 75% rebate of the provincial portion of the HST applicable to the purchase price to a maximum of $24,000.00. This rebate applies to the first $400,000.00 of the purchase price. For purchase price above $400,000.00 this rebate is $24,000.00.

The HST rebate is only applicable to new homes. Resale homes are exempt from HST.

Check with your Real Estate Lawyer for any change in regulations.

The author of this article, Balvinder Kumar is a professional and reliable Real Estate Lawyer in Mississauga , helping you in your Real Estate matters in Mississauga, Brampton, Milton and GTA.

Reach us @905-290-7205 for more information.

Equalization of Property in Family Law

When there is a breakdown of marriage, you and your spouse separate and /or divorce, the value of all the property accumulated during the marriage is to shared equally between you and your spouse, through a process called “equalization”. This is according to the Family Law Act unless you and your spouse have agreed otherwise and stipulated in a domestic contract.

What is Equalization and what are the steps to complete this process? There are two steps of equalization.

Step 1: Calculate Net Family Property:

The net family property for you and your spouse is calculated as of the valuation date. This date is usually date of separation with no possibility of reconciliation. Net Family Property is calculated by putting together a list of all the assets on the date of separation and its value on that date. From the total of this amount, the following are deducted:

Debts at separation
Gifts you received
Property you inherited
Value of property you brought into the marriage

Step 2: Share the Family Property Equally:

Once step 1 is complete, you must disclose your net family property to the other. The value of the net family property must then be equalized. The spouse, whose net family property is higher, must give the other spouse half of difference between the two amounts. This is called equalization payments.

These steps are applied if you and your spouse are married. The rules of division of property do not apply to common-law couples and their property rights are different.

Call us for more information @905-290-7205.

choose us as the incomparable Family Lawyers in Mississauga for the best solutions.

Joint Tenants and Tenants in Common

When you purchase a real property with spouse or another person, you have to register your title as joint tenant or tenants in common. There is a difference between the two forms of ownership. What are they?

Joint Tenants: The characteristics of joint tenants are:

Each joint tenant has the right of ownership in the whole property
The essential benefit of joint tenancy is the right of survivorship which means that if one joint tenant passes away, his or her interest in the property diminishes and the surviving joint tenant becomes the sole owner of the real property. Spouses usually take title as joint tenants.
All joint tenants own identical and equal portion in the real property and acquire title from the same document at the same time.
Joint tenancy is often utilized for estate planning purposes.

Tenants in Common: The characteristics of tenants in common are:

Each owner holds a percentage of interest in the real property.
Each owner possesses a separate and divisible interest in the property and is the owner of his or her share in the real property separately.
The tenant’s share can be transferred to anyone, a friend or a relative in the Will or sold to anyone. If there is no Will, the interest in the real property becomes owned by the estate of the deceased tenant and the share is transferred to the beneficiaries of the estate.
There is no right of survivorship and a tenant in common can deal with his or her share in the property according to their wish.Call us @905-290-7205 for more information.

Joint Custody and Shared Custody

Joint Custody and Shared Custody are both custody arrangement with shared parenting and considered synonyms.

In a joint custody, both parents have custody and are entitled to make decisions about their child’s upbringing and well being. Usually, the child lives with one parent majority of the time and that parents makes day to day decisions for the child. The other parent will have access, right to visit the child and shares major decisions about the child.

In a shared custody arrangement, both parents make decisions about the child and the child lives equal amount of time with each parent. The child lives at least 40% of the time with each parent. This kind of arrangement affects the amount of the child support. It is important that both parents live in a reasonable distance from each other making it convenient for the child to move between parents. Family Lawyer Mississauga can help you for Joint Custody and Shared Custody solutions.

The author of this article, Balvinder Kumar is a renowned Family Lawyer in Mississauga serving families across Mississauga, Milton and Brampton.

Call us for more information @905-290-7205.