This blog post was written by: Dave Madan, Senior Manager, Scotiatrust This summer, the Montana Supreme Court had to weigh in on a modern question: can a selfie video serve as a person’s last Will? The short answer was no. In a case that made headlines, the court rejected a…
THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST WAS WRITTEN BY IRYNA HUK, STUDENT-AT-LAW AT DE VRIES LITIGATION LLP When a sentimental estate asset is wrongfully altered or destroyed, courts must decide whether the appropriate remedy is to award the estate the value of a replacement or the cost of restoring the original. The…
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,…
In Canada, it is not uncommon for employers to grant stock options to employees as a form of compensation, notably in technology and startup sectors. These stock options provide employees the right to purchase company stocks at a predetermined price, often referred to as the “exercise price.” What are the…
Increasingly, families are struggling with hospital discharges, especially for elderly persons with complex care needs. The primary reason is that transition planning is not sufficiently planned for or considered. Before you agree to any discharge for a family member, you must first understand what a high-quality transition plan looks like….
Today’s blog was written by Courtney Lanthier, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. As estate planning legal professionals, we sometimes lose sight of how difficult and confusing reading a Will can be, often full of “legalese” and sentences that seem to go on forever. An executor reading the will may not…
Pieter Claesz, “Vanitas Still Life” 1630. Private foundations are believed to be durable entities. Perpetuity is often assumed at the planning stage. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) data shows, however, that 3,073 private foundations closed during the period 2000 to 2025. Growth in Private Foundations Private foundations have seen significant growth…
In my capacity evaluation work, my clients (who are mostly lawyers) occasionally suggest that if I have already assessed that a decision maker has testamentary capacity, then I need not evaluate whether the decision-maker has capacity to appoint a power of attorney (POA) for property. The reasoning is that because…
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…
The recent case, Stewart Estate v Stewart, 2025 ONCA 575, provides guidance on the test for a stay pending appeal. In Stewart, the deceased, William, executed a last will and testament (the “Will”) in 1989. William died five years later. He was survived by his wife, Edith, and their 13…