River Rock Law

Do you live in or near Spruce Grove? Are you free January 25th at 6PM? Have you been putting off doing your Will, Power of Attorney, and Personal Directive? Have questions or don't know where to get started? River Rock Law is here to help. Jennifer Locke is giving an Estate Planning Seminar at Serenity Funeral Service at their Spruce Grove location. It's totally free! Call Serenity at 780-988-2929 to RSVP. Hope to see you there!!!

To kick off 2023 our office was fortunate enough to be invited by Maxwell Devonshire Realty to give a webinar on Estate Sales (sale of a Deceased person's residential home) and what options might be available to sell the home faster while the Courts are reviewing the Grant of Probate. Thanks so much to MaxWell Devonshire Realty for giving us the opportunity to speak. Check it out here:

Probate for REALTORS® Jennifer Locke of River Rock Law, your friendly mobile lawyer, will be doing a presentation on Estate sales. Learn what Probate is, why it takes so long, and...

Happy Holidays! Our office will be closed from December 22, 2022 reopening on January 9, 2023. Wishing you a restful holiday season, and health and prosperity in 2023❄️☃️🎄

At the Women and Wealth Gala with the incomparable Deidre Harrison with LIVREALTY . So excited to see the amazing Catherine O'Hara speak!

Our friends at Inclusion Alberta are having a donation drive to collect items like: clothing, bedding, small appliances, and household items. Donations can be dropped off at the Tirecraft at 12208 118 Ave NW on Saturday March 19th from 9:30AM to 3:30PM. What a better way to spring clean and donate to an incredible local charity!!!

And before I knew it, it’s been a year. One year exactly since I started River Rock Law. I’ve thought about what I would say to people – that in some ways it feels like 3 years since I started the firm but in other ways only four months. That I never fathomed being as busy and successful in my first year of business. That I finally can say that I really enjoy practicing law and that being my own boss was the evidently the missing element. That all my hard work has been worth it.

And I think of the things I will say – the common theme being “Thanks for everything!” Special thanks to my family and friends. They are my promotors, my sounding board, my champions, and have even been my couriers! Special thanks to Andrew Maloff (my husband), Greg Locke (my brother). Your words of encouragement are so appreciated. And to Sterling Lawrence of Lawrence Law, and Tracy Spilde of Quest Law. Truly, you are my village elders in this endeavour, and I am so grateful for your willingness to share your wisdom and experience.

But even more then things that I could say and will say to people are the things I wish I could say to one individual in particular – my mom.

I miss you everyday, and I know that I am the woman I am because of you. In fact, if it wasn’t for your jovial yet relentless nagging, I would not be a lawyer. People often ask why I decided to become a lawyer and I tell them the truth – that you have pegged the careers of all your children. Clearly you should have been a career counsellor as all four us stayed in our respective professions. I fought you the longest and the hardest and finally in complete exasperation said “Ok! If I take my L-SAT and apply to two law schools and I don’t get in, can we consider this conversation over?!” You agreed…and darned if I didn’t get in.

I want so badly to know what you would say to me today. I don’t think that you would say that you were proud of me…not that you aren’t, it’s just not your style. I might elicit a “good for you” as that was your standard accolade for many years. I don’t know if you would say much of anything. But you would smile. It would be that warm smile that exuded pride with just a tinge of smugness that you knew this would happen. And maybe that’s what you would say to me. That you knew that I could do it all along.

As morbid it as it sounds, it was your death that changed my view of what I could accomplish, what I was willing to risk, and the realization that failure was not the worst thing that could happen to me. With the grief and the heartache came the inevitable realization that life is too short not to take chances and try to make yourself as happy as possible. And maybe that’s why today is both joyous and wistful – that the end of your life emboldened me to live mine more fully than I dared to. And I am happier because of taking that chance. Thanks, Mom. I love you.

As 2021 draws to a close, we are so thankful for all the support we received in our first year of business. In fact, we've been so busy that we've been a little delinquent when it comes to uploading content 😅 (this may be on the New Year's resolution list).

We are preparing for what is already shaping up to be a stellar 2022 and therefore will be closed on December 31, 2021 and January 3, 2022.

Wishing you all health and prosperity in 2022!

Is this Christmas the first Christmas without a loved one? Our good friends at Serenity Funeral Service are putting on an event to honor the memory of loved ones. Check out the link below for more information.

We are inviting our community to Blue Christmas, a special remembrance event to honour the memory of loved ones. Join us on Thursday, December 9th from 7-8 PM at the Terwillegar Community Church. RSVP is not required but appreciated. Call 780-430-8389 or use the link below to register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/blue-christmas-a-special-evening-to-honor-the-memory-of-loved-ones-tickets-205294931667

Gone Fishing!

Thanks so much for everyone's support in our first 6 months of business! We opened more files, connected with more clients, and did more business than we ever expected! We are taking a much needed breather and will be closed starting September 8th for our annual vacation. Our office will reopen on September 27th.

Special thanks to my clients who surprised me with flowers after their real estate closing yesterday. Such a wonderful way to start the long weekend 😊💐🏡

Wishing you a relaxing and fun weekend from 🏞🥌⚖

Exciting announcement: We are looking to hire a virtual assistant/conveyancer. That's right! Business has been better then we could have imagined and we are so thankful and grateful for all the support from our referral partners, clients, and friends.

We are specifically looking for an independent contractor (not an employee) who would be paid on a per file basis. The candidate MUST have experience with Wills & Estates and Real Estate as a legal assistant/conveyancer. It would be a bonus if the candidate had experience with Gsinq (Granville), Lawyer Done Deal (Realtiweb), and Cosmolex.

Please share this post if you know someone who is organized, self-motivated, and enjoys working from home.

Please submit resumes/inquires to: [email protected]

The Alberta legal community sustained a great loss this year. Justice Beverley Browne passed away on March 24, 2021 and a Memorial Fund has been established in her honour which will provide for post-secondary education support for indigenous people.

I feel very honoured to have met Justice Browne in my legal career. I first had the privilege of meeting her when I was a law student. I was fortunate enough to participate in one of the Faculty of Law's moot competitions and Justice Browne was one of the presiding justices. It was not my best oral advocacy, but I appreciated her kindness, constructive criticism, and willingness to dedicate her time to the U of A Faculty of Law Moot Competition.

I could go on about her incredible achievements and her tireless advocacy for indigenous people, but the thing I will remember most about Justice Browne is her kindness.

Truly, there is nothing scarier than appearing before a Justice when you are a wet -behind-the-ears articling student. You pray that you don't get ridiculed by the presiding justice and look like a fool in a courtroom full of your peers from law school and seasoned counsel alike.

I always exhaled a sigh of relief when Justice Browne was sitting. I knew that even if I wasn't successful in my application, she would at least be kind. It bolstered my confidence, and I always felt I did better in front of her because I knew she treated everyone well and with respect.

I next saw her speak at one of the LESA elder law conferences. I hadn't realized that she was actually off on medical leave and had basically received a death sentence of lung disease. But then she got her second chance - a double lung transplant. Justice Browne explained the very personal experience of receiving this gift. I'm grateful that LESA still has the video posted and I've shared it so you can see just what a truly genuine person she was.

She will be dearly missed. Canada was lucky to have her.

https://www.ecfoundation.org/funds/9426/

https://www.lesaonline.org/alberta-organ-donation-sharing-the-gift-of-life/

Alberta Organ Donation – Sharing the Gift of Life – Legal Education Society of Alberta Did you know that Alberta implemented a new organ donation registry in the spring of 2014? Today’s blog shares a video of the Honourable Justice B. Browne speaking a few months ago to seminar attendees at LESA’s New Estate Administration Act seminar about the life giving decision people can make...

Here's my latest video - just what is the difference between a regular Enduring Power of Attorney and an Immediate Enduring Power of Attorney?

In this video I describe the difference between your standard contingent Enduring Power of Attorney and an Immediate Enduring Power of Attorney. I also discuss some examples of when it is helpful to have an Immediate Enduring Power of Attorney as opposed to the standard one.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TlGmk13wdU

Just what is an Immediate Enduring Power of Attorney In this video I describe the difference between your standard contingent Enduring Power of Attorney and an Immediate Enduring Power of Attorney. I also discu...

I have to give a shout out (again) to my favorite movers and junk removal company College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving. Since I've already recommended them on facebook I can't leave another review. Please consider using them for junk removal and moving - even moving furniture between floors in your home. It could save your marriage and/or your spouse's/partner's life as it did in our case. Below is my google review:

I have used College Hunks in the past for junk removal so it was a no brainer to reach out to them again when we decided to get rid of our "doggie couches" that were well loved along with some other items that were cluttering up our house.

My husband and I attempted to move a sectional from downstairs to our main floor and it nearly resulted in grievous bodily harm and death. Try as we might, we could not seem to get the sectional arm to fit through the narrow doorframe at the top of the stairs which resulted in me accidentally letting go of the couch - nearly crushing my husband as the full weight of the sectional slammed into him while he was precariously balanced mid staircase. It did not make for a night of marital bliss.

In an effort to avoid death, dismemberment, and/or divorce, we asked College Hunks to handle the furniture moving for us. Best decision we ever made. Connor and Cole got the sectional up the stairs without any issues and helped place it in our living room. I kid you not, they had the sectional up the stairs in less than 1 minute - a task that my husband and I nearly spent an hour trying to accomplish with me nearly having a coronary trying to hold an entire sectional while figuring out to get it through the door frame, and him nearly been run over by a runaway locomotive of a sectional down the stairs when I couldn't hold on any longer.

If you value your relationship and the health of your partner/spouse/etc, do yourself a favor and leave it to the professionals. Service with College Hunks is worth every penny.

So happy to be back in the BNI fold! I was just inducted with BNI Elite today who won Chapter of the Year in 2021. So excited to make many new connections and help grow our members' businesses.

BNI starts now! ❤🙌📊
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New fear inducing moment - when you are literally one millisecond away from your finger clicking your mouse to print a trust cheque for your real estate deal closing this morning and the power goes out in your entire office and doesn't come back on. 😱😲😳

Happy Wednesday!

I've added another video to my youtube channel for my first time home buyers out there. Don't forget to budget in property taxes when you buy a home. If you are getting a mortgage, some lenders will insist on paying the property taxes on your behalf and take an additional monthly amount of money along with your principal and interest payment to collect a property tax float that they can pay your property taxes with.

Other lenders put the onus back on you to pay the taxes. If you fall into this category you want to be sure that you've got the cash on hand to pay the taxes when they come due (i.e. June 30th if you live in the City of Edmonton).

If a big lump sum tax bill is a hard pill to swallow, you should see if your municipality has a monthly payment program in place (i.e. TIPPS with the City of Edmonton) to allow you to make payments over the course of the year instead of a big lump sum bill.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J124xPZ-8Xo

Paying Municipal Taxes when purchasing a home. There are many things buyers have to budget for when buying a house like furnishings and any upgrades. But don't forget to figure out property taxes. if you ...

It's been a busy week with real estate. And you know what issues keeps cropping up? Decks with no permits/not shown on the RPR. Bane of real estate lawyers existence. 😬🤦‍♀️

If you are thinking of selling a property this year - please, please, PLEASE dig up that RPR and make sure that the deck is on it and compliance from your municipality has been granted.

Built a deck without permits? I explain the headache caused in a real estate transaction here.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZUaLYBnsKo

Decks and the problems they can pose in a sale of a home. In this video I discuss that issue that is the bane of most real estate lawyers existence - a deck that isn't shown on a Real Property Report. What's worse? ...

Second video posted! This one is on why you need more than just a Will. You also need an Enduring Power of Attorney and a Personal Directive. Next of Kin is actually very restricted in terms of what they can do without these documents naming them as your decision maker(s).

&estates

A Will is not enough! Why you need an Enduring Power of Attorney and Personal Directive. Most people don't know that there are 3 documents required in Alberta to have a full comprehensive estate plan. A Will only has effect after a person dies. B...

Eeeeeee! They're here!!!! My new biz cards. This starting my own law firm thing is starting to feel official 👩‍⚖️😁🎆

Special thanks to Katie Dooley at for designing my logo and business cards. So thrilled with the result. Highly recommend Katie for graphic design work!

Did my first video on youtube for River Rock Law! It discusses the 3 common stumbling blocks most couples encounter when giving a lawyer instructions for their Wills. Please subscribe to my Channel on youtube and feel free to give me suggestions on future content.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgut3oW8AMI

3 things couples should discuss before giving Will instructions to their lawyer. In this video I discuss 3 common stumbling blocks that couples encounter when giving their lawyer will instructions. ...

Now it's easier to call River Rock Law.

The founder of River Rock Law: Jennifer J. Locke

River Rock Law updated their business hours.

River Rock Law updated their phone number.

River Rock Law updated their website address.