All About Estates

Category: Estate Administration and Probate Applications

Total 109 Posts

When Will a Court Reconsider Its Decision?

Judges cannot reconsider their decision – once an order is issued, the judge’s job (and jurisdiction to hear further arguments) is done. In very limited cases, a party may ask the court to reconsider after the decision is released but before a formal order is taken out. However, the test to meet is high.

Continue Reading

This Blog Was Written by a Bot

The Advent of AI Technology Last week, I read a tongue-in-cheek post on LinkedIn about what the dockets of a lawyer practising in the 1950’s may have looked like. Humorous entries included everything from fixing jammed typewriters to doing legal research with ancient tomes. This lawyer’s social critique was insightful:…

Continue Reading

Valuation of Interests in Discretionary trusts and Family Law

These days, it is quite common to find intergenerational wealth transfer to consist of property held in a discretionary family trust whose beneficiaries may or may not have been in marital relationships at the time of the time the trusts were created. A siginifcant number of legal and financials issues…

Continue Reading

ELDER ABUSE: A GROWING PROBLEM IN AN AGING POPULATION

Today’s blog is co-written by Jennifer Campbell and Sandra Arsenault, Senior Law Clerks in the Private Client Services Group at Fasken. At the beginning of November, we were fortunate enough to attend the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario (ILCO) annual conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  This conference brings together law clerks…

Continue Reading

Now Updating…Do Not Give Up Before All Revisions Are Complete

Today’s blog was written by Sandra Arsenault, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP, in collaboration with Jessica Butler, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. As we move into fall and the corresponding back to school (or office) routines, we in estates administration have a further revision to our primary “textbook.”  The latest…

Continue Reading

Human Rights Tribunals Continue To Disproportionately Require Probate

As my colleague Joanna Lindenberg and I have blogged about the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has taken the position that it requires a certificate of appointment of estate trustee (i.e. probate) in order for an application before the HRTO to proceed. Now, in Boyd v. Steeves & Rozema Enterprises…

Continue Reading

Probate Forms are Changing…Again

Today’s blog was written by Yvonne Mazurak, Associate, at Fasken LLP As my colleagues, Sandra Arsenault and Betty Laidlaw, have both described in posts earlier this year, Ontario Regulation 709/21 introduced significant changes to the probate procedure. Among the changes, which came into effect on January 1, 2022, was the…

Continue Reading

How A Rumoured Las Vegas Wedding To A Russian Child Star Shook Up An Intestacy

The background to the unopposed motion was lurid: a prominent lawyer cut down before her time and a last-minute Las Vegas marriage to a former Russian child star. In Estate of Tanya Claudia Davies, 2022 ONSC 2009, the court stayed an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee…

Continue Reading

Affidavit Evidence – A Refresher

Motions and applications rely on affidavit evidence – written statements sworn under oath. This is in contrast to actions, where evidence is provided by live witnesses who are examined or cross-examined in court (this is what you see on TV dramas). Relying on affidavit evidence translates into less time spent…

Continue Reading

Software Applications as Aids to the Estates Advisor

Software Applications as Aids to the Estates Advisor For all of us advisors, there are likely certain types of software applications that we use for our day-to-day tasks: perhaps its Microsoft Outlook for sending emails, or a timekeeping software for recording dockets. And although these programs are leaps and bounds…

Continue Reading