Non-resident individuals entrusted the custody of certain funds to the Quebec office of a Canadian financial institution, which held the funds in the form of corporate securities and precious metals certificates, which were entrusted to it for safekeeping purposes. Now 10 of those individuals have died, and their heirs are non-residents. Are such securities held on their behalf held under trusts and, if so, is the trusts’ residence in Canada?
CRA indicated that given that the Canadian financial institution performs only custodial and safekeeping functions, there is no trust. After quoting the definition of legal representative, it stated:
A financial institution would generally not be considered a legal representative controlling the estate's assets solely because of its role as depositary and custodian of certain estate assets.