Ruth Spetz  

Ruth Spetz is a partner in our Tax Group in our Calgary office, as well as a member of our Calgary Regional Management Committee and Vice-Chair of our Not-for-Profit Group. Ruth practises in the areas of tax, trusts, estates, succession planning, charities and not-for-profits. She advises private clients, trusts, family offices, closely held corporations and foundations.

Ruth has completed the Canadian Bar Association’s Tax Law Course, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ In-Depth Tax Course, and the Institute of Corporate Directors’ Education Program. She also holds the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ TEP designation, Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and the Institute of Corporate Directors’ ICD.D certifications.

• Advising senior-generation family members on returning to Canada, establishing and varying Canadian trusts, reorganizing Canadian private corporation interests held by family, negotiating next-generation shareholder agreements, and related business-succession and estate-planning matters.
• Advising and implementing butterfly reorganizations of private corporation investment assets.
• Advising private corporations pertaining to Canada Revenue Agency audits of foreign exchange, Part IV tax and inter-provincial income allocation issues.
• Advising personal representatives of complex estates involving court sealing of grants of probate, resealing in other Canadian and US jurisdictions, administration of testamentary trusts for US real property, tax implications of donation of private corporation shares and gifts by will, and wind-up and reorganization of private corporation interests.
• Preparing tax-planned wills for high-net-worth individuals involving complex tax, estate and family situations, testamentary trusts and philanthropic planning.
• Advises donors, charities and non-profit organizations regarding tax implications of structuring operations, establishing legal entities, obtaining and maintaining charitable registration, and trust/corporate governance.
• Establishing and obtaining charitable registration of private foundations for senior executives anticipating a liquidity event and parallel foundations for  public entities.
• Advising trusts and private foundations undergoing Canada Revenue Agency audits.
• Advising on the implications of various gifting and investment strategies.
• Advising on and establishing Canadian structures to hold US recreational property.

• Regular speaker on tax-, estate- and charitable-planning issues for professional and community groups including the Canadian Bar Association, Canadian Tax Foundation, Canadian Society of Association Executives, Estate Planning Council of Calgary, Legal Education Society of Alberta, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and Canadian Private Family Office Invitational.
• Speaker, “The New Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act,”Legal Education Society of Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton, 2012.
• Speaker “Tax Update,” 6th Canadian Private Family Office Invitational, 2011.
• Speaker, “The Role of the Trustee – Duties and Powers,” STEP, 2009.
• Speaker, “Private Foundations: Opportunities & Challenges,” STEP, 2008.

• Selected by peers for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada® (Tax Law, Trusts & Estates).
• Recognized in the 2012 edition of The ®  Directory (Estate & Personal Tax Planning).
• Martindale-Hubbell® BV® Distinguished™ 4.4 out of 5 Peer Review Rated.