All About Estates

Category: Estate Litigation

Total 412 Posts

Presumption of Resulting Trusts: Lessons from Atkins v Chamberlain for Joint Accounts

Today’s post was written by Nina Fainman-Adelman, Associate and Ashely Thornton, Articling Student, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Resulting trusts is an equity-based tool for reallocating property when legal joint title does not reflect the intentions of a testator who held the property or account jointly with another individual. A resulting…

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Review or Update Your Will Every Few Years—Your Beneficiaries Will Thank You

This blog has been written by JOSEPH STONEHOUSE, litigation associate at Fasken LLP (Toronto) In a recent decision, Justice Myers of the Superior Court of Justice dismissed claims by beneficiaries under a will against the drafter because those claims were brought more than 15 years after the defendant drafted the will….

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Rule 7 and New Ontario Regulation 173/25

The multi-faceted Rule 7 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure often comes into play in estate litigation. Generally, in estates cases, the Rule may be engaged when there is a settlement impacting a person under disability (i.e. a minor, an absentee within the meaning of the Absentees Act, or…

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When One Clause or Designation Derails an Estate Plan

This blog post was written by: Dave Madan, Senior Manager, Scotiatrust Recent decisions from the British Columbia Court of Appeal have underscored how fragile an estate plan can become when a Will is ambiguous, or when life insurance and beneficiary designations conflict with the testator’s broader intentions. These cases remind…

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Limitation Periods and Testamentary Disputes: Lessons from Recent Ontario Case Law

Article Written by: Ashley Thornton, Articling Student at Gowling WLG Recent decisions from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Appeal have shed light on when limitation periods begin to run in the context of different types of estate litigation. From professional negligence by estate lawyers,…

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To Validate or Not to Validate: That is the Question

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…

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Trusteeship Part 2: Avoiding Pitfalls—Best Practices for Estate Trustees

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…

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