May 2025

The Pitfalls of Joint Ownership: Transferor Beware

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Scotiatrust

This blog post was written by Alicia Mossington, Estate and Trust Consultant, Scotiatrust London Executors in Ontario are often required to obtain a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee (colloquially and historically referred to as “probate”). Although Estate Administration Tax (“probate tax”) is applicable across many jurisdictions in Canada, it is slightly higher in Ontario. This leads many people to take steps to avoid or minimize it.   Joint ownership….

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Joint Tenancy, Resulting Trust, Trusts

Provincial Succession Law and Family Law

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One of the most interesting and challenging aspects of working in the trusts and estates field is how different the rules can be, not just internationally, but within our national borders. For example, this week I was chatting with my Quebec colleagues about Bill 56 – An Act respecting family law reform and establishing the parental union regime. It amends provisions of the Civil Code of Quebec (the “Code”) and….

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Family Conflict, International, Spouse, Succession Planning

(Not So) Happy Little Accidents: The Legal Legacy of Bob Ross

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Today’s blog was written by Jessica Butler, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. Last weekend my husband and I settled in for a typical Sunday night at home – cozy on the couch with a good Netflix documentary. We decided to watch “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed”. What I didn’t expect was that not even 15 minutes into the documentary, I’d find myself running back to my office to….

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Business Succession Planning, Contracts, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Succession Planning, Trusts

Artificial Intelligence and the Court: Buyer Beware

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AI Robot Lawyer

Artificial intelligence seems to be all the rage. However, even with all of the technological advances and shortcuts which may now be available, counsel has an overriding and fundamental duty to not mislead the Court. Justice Myers’ recent decision in Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 2766 forcefully affirms this principle, and deals head-on with the issue of the use of AI in materials filed with the Court. Before Justice Myers….

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Courts, Estate Litigation

Can a Court Create a Henson Trust Post-Death….Find Out Here:

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Kira Domratchev, Partner, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Many of us are familiar with the concept of a Henson Trust, as it comes across our desks fairly frequently, both in the context of litigation and planning. A Henson Trust is a trust where the trustee is given an absolute and unfettered discretion such that a beneficiary could not compel the trustee to make payments to them. For that reason, a beneficiary’s….

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Healthcare, Uncategorized

A Call Out for Screening and Standardized Assessment of Decision-Making Incapacity Validated by Research

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The determination of decision-making incapacity is time, task, and situation specific, and can be quite complex.  This complexity is in part caused by a lack of reliability and standardization when it comes to determining capacity.  In turn, this lack of reliability and standardization is caused by, among other things: biased or unattainable corroborative information, potential outcomes, risks, social conflicts, and impacts on family or supportive friends. All of these factors….

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Uncategorized
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