Each province in Canada establishes its own rules regarding the distribution of property where a person dies without a will. In Ontario, intestate succession is governed by Part II of the Succession Law Reform Act (the “SLRA”). Inheritance on intestacy is limited to married spouses and blood relations. If a…
Learning that a loved one or friend who has passed away has left a gift for you in their Will, can be expected or in some cases, it can come as a surprise. You may be entitled to either (i) a legacy which can be in the form of a…
If structuring an estate plan across different Canadian jurisdictions didn’t raise enough considerations for an estate planner, add a different legal system to the mix, namely, Quebec’s civil law. This post focuses on the estate-planning advantages available to clients who hold assets both in Ontario and Quebec, specifically the advantage…
A lot has been written about how should choose an executor, and some of it in this blog place. A couple of years ago, fellow boggler Emily Hubling wrote eloquently about the risk and rewards of appointing a professional advisor as executor. I would like to revisit some of the…
Unhappily, it is not uncommon for family members to be at loggerheads as to who controls the body of a loved one and whether the body should be cremated or buried. I previously blogged on the 2018 case Miller v. Miller, a decision by Justice Myers of the ONSC, which…
Regular court operations and limitation periods/statutory deadlines continue to be suspended in Ontario due to COVID-19 (as discussed further in my previous blog). However, this does not mean that litigation is somehow frozen or that deadlines in previous court orders do not apply. One party learned this painful lesson in…
How should an estate trustee proceed when they cannot identify or locate all of the heirs to an estate? In some cases, a challenge arises where a will does not identify the beneficiaries by name, but by class or some other description. For example, a will may leave the residue…
Counsel faced with responding to frivolous objections to an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee may wish to consider rule 25.11 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 25.11 allows the court to strike out (all or part of) a pleading, without leave to amend, on the…
Estate Trustees During Litigation are appointed in a wide variety of situations where a neutral party is needed to administer and preserve the estate assets. The bar for their appointment is lower than to remove an estate trustee.
This is the third and final entry in a three-part blog series about the current state of estates law vis-à-vis privacy law. Part I focused on the relevant federal and provincial privacy legislation. Part II examined significant court decisions relating to this area. Part III will look at solutions for…
