All About Estates

Jacob Kaufman

Total 55 Posts Website
Jacob Kaufman is a lawyer with de VRIES LITIGATION LLP. Jacob assists clients with will challenges, dependant support claims, guardianship applications, power of attorney disputes and other estate and trust litigation matters. He has appeared before various levels of court, including the Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Jacob obtained his law degree from the University of Western Ontario (with distinction) after completing an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University in history (with distinction). He has written articles for the International Law Office, Legal Alert and the OBA’s Deadbeat. Email: jkaufman@devrieslitigation.com

Costs and the Estate’s Losses

By Jacob Kaufman • January 8, 2020 • 1 Comment

Some losses suffered by the estate due to litigation cannot be recovered.

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Winner Doesn’t Take All: Estate Trustee Cannot Indemnify for Costs

By Jacob Kaufman • December 11, 2019 • 1 Comment

An estate trustee was successful in litigation in upholding the will. However, due to her conduct before and during the litigation the court nevertheless ordered that she personally bear half of her costs in Bayford v. Boese, 2019 ONSC 6919. The estate trustee (a friend of the deceased) sought to…

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Interim Support and the “Bare Minimum”

By Jacob Kaufman • October 23, 2019 • 1 Comment

Should a widow have to deplete her meager savings and income before being entitled to interim dependant support from her late husband’s estate? In Anderson v. Anderson, 2019 ONSC 5627 (CanLII), the court’s answer was unsurprisingly “no”. The deceased had been married to his second wife for almost 20 years….

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Power of Attorney Disputes: Effective Capacity Assessments

By Jacob Kaufman • September 18, 2019 • 2 Comments

I was honoured to moderate a panel today at the Advocates’ Society’s CPD today “Capable or Not? How to Effectively Litigate and Mediate a Power of Attorney Dispute” (which will be available for purchase online in a couple of months as a webcast archive at TAS’ website). Justices McEwen and…

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To Boldly Go Where No Estate Litigation Has Gone Before

By Jacob Kaufman • August 7, 2019 • 4 Comments

Even if you have never seen an episode of Star Trek you are probably familiar with “Beam me up, Scotty”[1] or Mr. Spock’s ears. The judges of our Superior Court frequently mine the show for metaphors.[2] Gene Roddenberry is widely known as the mind behind Star Trek but less well…

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Incapable People and Limitation Periods

By Jacob Kaufman • May 29, 2019 • 0 Comments

When does the limitation period start running regarding an incapable person who does not have a formal litigation guardian? Despite the language of the Limitations Act, 2002, a court found in Rekowski v. Renfrew (County), 2019 ONSC 2852 that the answer to this question is not clear. In 2009, Kenneth was…

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Finally, A Nice Passing of Accounts

By Jacob Kaufman • May 8, 2019 • 0 Comments

Passings of accounts can often be bitter and vicious. However, the case of Daniel Estate (Re), 2019 ONSC 2790 was a welcome “good news” alternative to the standard slugfest. Linda and Ted cared for their elderly neighbours Isabel and Wayne for over two decades. The court noted that their relationship…

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ETDL Appeal is to the Divisional Court – not the Court of Appeal

By Jacob Kaufman • April 3, 2019 • 0 Comments

What appellate court is the proper forum for an appeal regarding the payment of an estate trustee during litigation’s fees (an “ETDL”)? In Gefen v. Gaertner, 2019 ONCA 233, the Court of Appeal held it was the Divisional Court and not the Court of Appeal. The Gefen Estate (the “Estate”)…

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Supreme Court Blesses Henson Trusts

By Jacob Kaufman • February 13, 2019 • 0 Comments

The Supreme Court of Canada has given its blessing to Henson Trusts (fully discretionary trusts set up to not impact the beneficiary’s social assistance benefits) in S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing Corp., 2019 SCC 4. I previously blogged about this case when it was before the Court of Appeal. The…

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Changes in the Estates World in 2019

By Jacob Kaufman • January 2, 2019 • 2 Comments

All of us at AllAboutEstates hope you had a happy new year and will have an equally happy 2019. As we start the new year, here are some changes estate litigators should be aware about as well as some upcoming developments. The Rules of Civil Procedure have been amended (the changes…

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