Today’s blog has been written by David C. Rosenbaum, Partner, at Fasken LLP Subsection 21.1(1) of the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA) permits the Superior Court of Justice to validate a document or will that was not properly executed or made under the Act, if the deceased died after January…
Tag: Estate Litigation
Today’s blog has been written by Latoya Brown, Associate, at Fasken LLP In Part 1 of this series, we explored the importance of selecting the right trustee, using Jones v. Jones[1] to highlight what can go wrong when a trustee lacks a clear understanding of their fiduciary obligations. In this…
Today’s blog was written by Karen La Caprara, Counsel, at Fasken LLP. Like many modern families, the fictional Pritchett family in the series “Modern Family” has a variety of personalities, family dynamics and relationships, traditional and modern viewpoints. The many possible iterations and permutations of what makes a family…
My husband and I recently went on a trip to Peru to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. It was an adventurous 18-day tour, amazing but exhausting. One of my favourite parts was the beginning of our trip when we spent four days at an Amazon jungle lodge. Part of…
Today’s blog post was written by Latoya Brown, an Associate at Fasken LLP. The discussion of discriminatory wills continues with a new case out of the British Columbia Supreme Court. In Lam v Law Estate, 2024 BCSC 156, the court varied a testatrix’s will on the reasoning that the testatrix’s…
I recently spoke to an estate lawyer who told me she would never recommend certain charities to clients. Why? Because of the way these charities treated estate trustees. Some charities are unduly litigious, grind on fees, and are obstreperous about releases. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this comment…
Photo Credit: Universal Pictures This blog has been written by Sandra Arsenault, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP If you are the lucky (or more often unlucky) person appointed…
In Fanelli v. Fanelli-Bruno, 2023 ONSC 6501, Justice Myers provided clear direction on the principle of proportionality in litigation, and the ways in which it can influence a decision on costs. The decision The estate of Ms. Lina Fanelli, the mother of the Applicant and Respondent, was the subject…
A recently released decision, Giann v Giannopoulos, 2023 ONSC 5412, provides clarity on a question that frequently arises in estate litigation: what information is a party entitled to from the deceased’s personal records and documents? This case, heard by Justice Myers of the estate list in mid-September this year was…
In a recent will challenge case, the court ruled that the estate trustees during litigation could not access estate funds to pay their legal fees. The testator (“Hans”) and his late wife (“Colleen”) married in 1987. Together, they had 7 children from their previous marriages. In 2005, Hans and Colleen…