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Michael J. Prsa
Called to the Bar: 1984
Phone: (905) 452-6880
Fax: (905) 451-5058
Email: click here
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Mike chairs Lawrences' Estates Group. His practice focuses on estate planning and wealth transfer during lifetime or on death and includes the preparation of Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and tax planning. Mike designs unique solutions for individual assets such as the family cottage or family farm, or for special beneficiaries such as minors, the disabled, second spouses and non-resident beneficiaries. Working with our Corporate Group, Mike also helps business clients develop integrated solutions for their business and personal planning objectives.
Mike assists personal representatives such as executors, trustees and attorneys for property and personal care with the fulfillment of their duties and obligations. He also provides advice to beneficiaries or others who have a financial interest in an estate or trust (creditors, spouses, children from prior relationships and other dependants). Mike has guided many families through crisis situations involving unexpected death or incapacity.
Prior to focusing on estate planning and estate administration, Mike had extensive experience as a family and estate litigation lawyer. He has a wealth of experience dealing with all aspects of family disputes. He has successfully challenged Wills and participated in a wide variety of estate-related court proceedings. He is a panel lawyer for both the Children's Lawyer for the Province of Ontario and the Public Guardian and Trustee.
REPRESENTATIVE WORK
Mike has prepared estate plans for clients who are in second or multiple relationships and who wish to provide for fair treatment of the second spouse and children from prior relationships. He has negotiated numerous domestic agreements such as cohabitation and marriage contracts to protect or establish property rights.
Mike works with business owners to implement plans involving the use of family trusts, testamentary trusts and multiple wills.
He advises Attorneys for Property on the administration of incapable persons' affairs and has guided clients through the process to be appointed Guardian of Property in situations where the mentally incapacitated individual did not appoint an Attorney for Property while capable.
Mike has appeared on Will interpretation cases dealing with such issues as:
how an estate is to be distributed when a beneficiary disclaims his or her interest in the estate,
the administration of an estate in the face of conflict in the family and conflicting interpretations of a Will,
the appointment or removal of executors and trustees,
breach of trust claims, and
estate accounting and executor compensation disputes.
PUBLICATIONS
Estate Planning for Blended Families, with Gosha Sekhon. Ontario Bar Association Estates and Trusts newsletter "Deadbeat", March 2010.
A Matter of Trust: Joint Bank Accounts with Children. The Lawrences Letter, Winter 2008.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS/TEACHING
Regular speaker and presenter at estate-related programs offered by some of Canada's leading organizations, financial institutions, and charities
Participated in a five-week program on estate planning on Radio 740 AM
Speaker at Ontario Bar Association and Peel Law Association seminars on estate planning
Past instructor in estate planning at the Bar Admission Course on Trusts and Estates for the Law Society of Upper Canada
Past lecturer in Business Law at Sheridan College
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Member of the Mississauga Estate Planning Council
Member of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
Former member of the Executive Committee, Trusts and Estates section, Ontario Bar Association and former chair of the Statutory Review Committee, whose recommendations have resulted in amendments to the Family Law Act of Ontario
Peel Law Association
Law Society of Upper Canada
EDUCATION
Called to the Ontario bar 1984
LLB University of Windsor Law School 1982
BA (with high distinction) McMaster University 1979
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Member of the Donor Development Committee for the Canadian Mental Health AssociationPeel
Member, Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce
Member, Brampton Board of Trade
Former director, Big Brothers of Peel
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