25 June 2021 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Alleging suspicious circumstances In Tecter v. Reimer Estate, 2021 MBQB 133, the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench considered a will challenge by two grandchildren who asserted that their grandmother's will was invalid due to a lack of testamentary capacity and suspicious circumstances.
27 May 2021 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Varying a Will in British Columbia In Scurek v. Scurek, 2021 BCCA 178, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia reviewed a case in which the trial judge varied the testator's will to give a larger share to the testator's daughter.
28 April 2021 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Holographic wills and incorporation by reference In Re: Lacroix Estate, 2021 ONSC 2929, the Superior Court considered the case of a holograph will prepared by a terminally ill woman in the hospital, who was unable to see her lawyer due to COVID-19 restrictions. The court ultimately found the will invalid.
30 March 2021 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - The Slayer Rule and Will Interpretation In The Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Company v. Rogers, the Superior Court considered the case of a man who murdered his parents.
25 February 2021 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Standing and financial gain In Moses v. Moses, 2021 ONSC 587, the S.C.J. considered whether a son had standing to challenge his father's will, given that the father's previous will also left nothing to his son.
29 January 2021 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Void for uncertainty? In Barsoki v. Wesley, 2020 ONSC 7407, the SCJ looked at a will with some less-than-clear provisions that gave the deceased's friend an unclear proprietary interest in her home.
30 November 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - When can you replace an estate trustee? In Viertelhausen v. Viertelhausen, 2020 ONSC 6744, the Ontario Superior Court considered an application to remove an estate trustee due to an alleged conflict of interest and personal animus.
23 October 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Testamentary Capacity and Dementia In McAndrew Estate (Re), 2020 ABQB 614, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta considered the validity of three wills made by a woman diagnosed with dementia.
28 September 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - The meaning of "residence" In Poole v Dailey, 2020 SKQB 226, the Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan considered the case of a will that left a residential property to a couple's daughter, on condition that she occupy it as her residence.
27 August 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Rebutting the presumption of revocation Levitz v. Hillel Lodge Long Term Care Foundation, 2017 ONSC 6253 is a case about a missing will and what it takes to rebut the presumption of revocation.
29 July 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - The costs implications of a weak position, for counsel and client In Eisenrieder Estate v Eisenrieder, 2020 ABQB 392, the Court of Queen's Bench considered the issue of costs, following a dispute over interpretation of a Will in which one party advanced a weak position.
24 June 2020 TAGS: Discussion e-Wills coming to British Columbia The BC Government has put forward legislation that would allow for remotely-witnessed, electronically-signed, self-proving wills.
18 June 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Appealing a decision interpreting a will In Kirst Estate (Re), 2020 ABCA 233, the Alberta Court of Appeal considered an appeal of a trial judge's interpretation of a will.
21 May 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Removing a co-executor due to conflict of interest In Durand v. Durand et al., the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba considered an application to remove a co-executor of an estate on the grounds that his ownership of a corporation was at odds with his fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries.
23 April 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - A holographic will and Alzheimer's disease In Arena Estate (Re), 2020 ABQB 206, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta considered whether a collection of letters, written by a woman with Alzheimer's disease, constituted a valid will.
30 March 2020 TAGS: Wills Case Brief - The Rule Against Perpetuities In Goss Estate (Re), 2020 ABQB 121, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta considered whether provisions of a will violated the Rule Against Perpetuities.
23 March 2020 TAGS: Will Registry How our Canada Will Registry helps professionals work from home As law firms across the country institute work-from-home policies in response to COVID-19, the centrality of paper records in wills and estates is causing problems.
25 February 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - Mental Health and Testamentary Capacity In the Leonard case, 2020 ONSC 662, the Superior Court considered the case of a will challenged on the grounds that the testator's history of bipolar disorder meant she lacked testamentary capacity.
14 February 2020 TAGS: PracticeConsiderations Client doesn't want to advertise for creditors? Have them sign an Acknowledgement and Direction If your client is an estate trustee who doesn't want to advertise for creditors, it's important to have them sign an Acknowledgement and Direction confirming they were warned of the risks.
11 February 2020 TAGS: Company Updates With Will Builder's new Export feature, it's easy to join the Canada Will Registry If you're using WillBuilder by DoProcess to keep a list of your firm's estate planning documents, you can use the new "Export" feature to register your entire vault on the Canada Will Registry.
16 January 2020 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief: Disinheriting your only living heir In Re Vaudrey, 2019 ONSC 7551, the Superior Court of Justice considered a case where a deceased individual's only living heir was expressly disinherited by the will.
12 December 2019 TAGS: Will Registry Connecting the Canada Will Registry with Willful The Canada Will Registry has partnered with Willful to make it easier for individuals to register their wills on the Canada Will Registry.
21 November 2019 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief - A disinherited granddaughter challenges two wills In Balanko v. Logan De Chavez*, 2019 ABQB 860, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta considered the case of a disinherited granddaughter who challenged two wills.
19 November 2019 TAGS: Discussion Q&A with Kavina Nagrani, JD, TEP We caught up with estate lawyer and longtime NoticeConnect advisor Kavina Nagrani this month.
24 October 2019 TAGS: Case Law Case Brief: Holding up the administration of an estate In Maloney v. Maloney, 2019 ONSC 5632, the Superior Court considered a motion related to an estate administration held up by a notice of objection.
