Michelle Isaak is a partner who practises in the area of personal wealth management. She has extensive experience advising clients on all aspects of estate and trust planning, adult guardianship and capacity planning, and estate and trust administration.
Michelle assists clients with developing individualized estate plans which incorporate tax, succession and familial considerations. She advises clients on the preparation of wills, powers of attorney, and representation agreements, the settlement of alter ego, joint spousal and family trusts, the complexities of planning for a blended family, and business succession.
A significant portion of Michelle's practice is devoted to advising executors, trustees and beneficiaries on estate and trust administration issues, such as obtaining or resealing representation grants, administering assets and trusts in a tax efficient manner, resolving disputes between trustees and beneficiaries, replacing trustees, and passing accounts, both informally and through the B.C. Supreme Court.
Michelle has particular expertise in complex estate planning and administration issues, such as planning for and administering estates with assets in multiple jurisdictions, planning for and administering Indigenous estates under the Indian Act, administering insolvent estates, and advising trustees in cases where the deceased has been murdered by a beneficiary.
Michelle is an active volunteer for the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, serving on the editorial board of the BC Probate and Estate Administration Practice Manual, as a contributing author to the BC Estate Planning and Wealth Preservation Practice Manual, and as a speaker at numerous CLE conferences and webinars. She presents frequently on the subject of wills, trusts and estate administration for organizations such as the Pacific Business and Law Institute, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), Canadian Bar Association of BC, and the Estate Planning Council of Vancouver. In June 2020, Michelle was featured in CLEBC’s “In the Spotlight” for her numerous contributions to the legal field.
Michelle has been listed in the Best Lawyers in Canada directory for Trusts and Estates since 2018, including being recognized as the 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” for Trusts and Estates in Vancouver, and is recognized by Lexpert® as a leading practitioner in the field of estate and tax planning.
