Change to TD Declaration of Trust for RSPs?

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Hopetoretire
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Change to TD Declaration of Trust for RSPs?

Post by Hopetoretire »

I have some TD self directed RSP's (some locked, some not). Received 10 page letter dated 1 Sept 2017, stating a bunch of changes to the Declaration of Trust. As I opened these accounts decades ago, can't find the original to compare, but initial reading makes me think a whole lot more liability has been passed on to us, the clients, should SHTF at TD.

Did anyone get the same letter, and would you be able to pick out the key added risks to account-holders and summarise them for us here? I'm not too financially savvy especially when it comes to so much small print.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
aint_no_muppet
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Re: Change to TD Declaration of Trust for RSPs?

Post by aint_no_muppet »

A little late for me to reply, but my household received the same legalease-plagued letter(s) last September, and then, yesterday, I got an email:
We're writing to let you know that the Declarations of Trust (DOT) for TD Waterhouse Self-Directed Retirement Savings Plans, Self-Directed Retirement Income Funds and Tax-Free Savings Accounts are being amended. The updated DOTs and a high-level summary of the changes can be viewed in eServices by following the "Important Account Holder Information" link in the "Important Information" section.
I don't understand why it took them four months to publish these documents on WebBroker, but then again, in recent years, they've also stopped sending consistent "Important Changes to TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Account Holder Information" pamphlets, and instead began sneaking things like fee increase notices at the end of unrelated brochures. :x
Worse still with the DOT amendments, the ones they mailed out early confusingly had the word "Confidential" on each page, even though they weren't customized to any particular accountholder, and I found a few minor typos in the text, too. Sloppy stuff.

My accounts were also opened more than a decade ago. TD buries the DOT within the Account and Service Agreements and Disclosure Documents, part of the so-called "Checklist of Documents To Be Provided To You" that you sometimes have to seek out, yourself.
As for a TL;DR summary, that's impossible. Just read through it carefully. Personally, I think legal agreements are getting far too long nowadays, trying to cover every possible misinterpretation. I laughed when my accountant said he had to start making his clients sign a waiver, per se, stating that preparing a personal income tax return does not constitute a formal audit of one's finances: isn't that obvious, like coffee = hot? :roll:
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AltaRed
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Re: Change to TD Declaration of Trust for RSPs?

Post by AltaRed »

On that waiver, maybe because clients want to blame someone else when they get into a bind, or maybe because there is stupid stuff happening in the court system in terms of awards. There is a tendency in our society to absolve stupidity by sharing the blame in the interests of 'fairness'.
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