All About Estates

Category: Contested wills

Total 103 Posts

When Are You Married?

Most know that you don’t have to be legally married to have a “spouse” for income tax purposes, although legal marriage will work. If you have been living with someone in a conjugal relationship for 12 months or more regardless of your sex at birth, you will be considered spouses…

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Do Personalty Clauses Cover All Personalty?

Today’s blog was written by guest blogger, Yvonne Mazurak, Articling Student at  Fasken LLP. With today being Black Friday, it seemed appropriate to write a post about things. Afterall, many of us will likely spend some time this weekend taking advantage of Black Friday deals and buying things for our…

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Charitable, but not that charitable

This blog was written by Paula Lester – Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management No one can question that Eleena Murray, who passed away in May 2017 at the age of 99, had charitable intentions. On the other hand, exactly how charitable her intentions were is at the…

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Who Gets Served?

Do you have to serve all respondents with all materials filed in an application? Only if the person has filed a notice of appearance or the court orders otherwise.

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Electronic Wills in Ontario: Growing Interest, Growing Need, or Growing Concern?

A few months ago, I was sent this article in the Globe and Mail.[1] The article explores the notion of introducing legislation to legalize electronic wills in Ontario. Although some of us here in the estates and trusts world have experience deducing what the positives and negatives of electronic wills…

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Spousal Election – The Right of the Survivor

In Ontario, the Family Law Act (“FLA”) regulates the division of property and the availability of spousal support on separation or death.

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You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But … You Get What You Need

In Poitras v. Canadian Cancer Society et. al., 2020 ONSC 4935 (CanLII), a  decision on a motion, the Estate Trustee/moving party sought an order setting the terms of a release so an interim distribution could be made. The responding party argued that an interim distribution could not be made until…

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Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way: Virtual Witnessing and Undue Influence During COVID-19

This blog was written by Lara Besharat As the pandemic trudges on, jurisdictions are bowing to pressure, allowing for what was once a rigidly fixed process to be done virtually. In Canada, a will historically required the physical presence of two witnesses alongside the testator to be considered valid. However,…

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Of Love, Resulting Trusts, Matrimonial Homes and Fenelon Falls

The gratuitous transfer of property from a parent to an adult, capable child may result in a resulting trust.

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Divisional Court Appeals: Not The Place For New Issues

In Luck v. Hudson, 2020 ONSC 3811 (Div. Ct.), the Divisional Court confirmed that an appeal is not the time to raise new issues and seek directions regarding an estate. In this case, the deceased and his wife owned a house together jointly which then sold (it is not clear…

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