Some stuff happened, and now people are fighting about what exactly happened. To find out what happened, evidence is needed. In estate litigation, there are special principles and rules of evidence along with the usual ones to be considered. The recent case of Koutsovasilis v. Carreira, provides a useful summary…
Anna Chen, Associate, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Often, estate trustees or trustees apply to the court for its opinion, advice or direction in respect to issues in the administration of the estates or trusts. The questions put to the court may range from the interpretation of a clause in a…
Exculpatory clauses or indemnity clauses in wills and trusts are common forms of protection provided to the trustees by testators and settlors. When a trustee is appointed under a testamentary or inter vivos trust document to administer and manage an estate or a trust, some consider it to be an…
A recent case confirmed that estate trustees representing an estate in litigation must have a lawyer unless the court dispenses with that requirement. In Scarangella v. Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, Ms. Scarangella commenced a medical negligence action as a claimant under the Family Law Act and as the estate trustee…
Irina Samborski, associate and Nina Fainman-Adelman, consultant, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Introduction The recent Ontario Superior Court decision, The Estate of William Robert Waters v Gillian Henry et al, 2024 ONSC 4190 (CanLII) (“Waters”) highlighted the importance of medical evidence in estate litigation. In that case, Justice Callaghan relied on…
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…
As many of our readers may know, estate trustees have a duty to account to the beneficiaries of an estate for the property they administer. Beneficiaries are entitled to be kept informed and can reasonably expect transparency and communication from the estate trustee in this regard. Oftentimes, an estate trustee…
Irina Samborski, associate and Caroline Mercer, articling student, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP When an estate is litigated, a deceased person’s decision-making is forced into the public record. Sometimes, the court is asked to pass judgement and correct decisions that may seem unreasonable or unfair. However, some courts prefer to uphold…
Undue influence, a common claim to be heard in the context of will challenges, occurs when a testator is forced or coerced into changing his or her will or creating a new one in favour of the coercing party. A closely related concept is testamentary fraud. Although testamentary fraud does…
Often when an estate is involved in litigation to address the conduct of an uncooperative beneficiary, the other beneficiaries expect that the estate trustee’s court costs will be paid from the share of the “problem” beneficiary. However, as lawyers like to say “it depends.” In a recent Ontario case, an…