A Refresher: Knowledge and Approval and its Connection to Suspicious Circumstances

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A testator must have knowledge and approved of the contents of her will. This is one of the requisite elements for proving a will in a solemn form. Knowledge and approval, and its closely related cousin of due execution, is generally viewed as an easier test to meet compared with testamentary capacity. But knowledge and approval may be difficult to establish where suspicious circumstances exists. Ordinarily if certain conditions are….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation

Proposing an Elder Care Planning Framework for Decision Making

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binoculars on a wooden table to express the idea of Elder Care Planning Framework

The Elder Care Planning Framework In March 2023, I was a panellist at the Ontario Bar Association’s Elder Law Day, where Dr. Richard Shulman and I spoke about decision-making capacity. In preparing our presentation, we developed this tool to aid in planning decision-making for elder care management and related financial, legal, and clinical affairs. The management of elder care is complex and multifaceted. There are numerous intersections where care needs….

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Capacity Law, Elder Care, Elder Management, Geriatric Care Management, Power of Attorney

Wedding Season is Here: The Impact of Marriage on Estate Planning

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As we turn the corner from winter to spring, we also enter into another important time of year: wedding season. With the start of this season, estate planners should remind themselves, and their clients, of a few of the critical intersections between family law and estate law that specifically impact married (as opposed to cohabiting) couples: As of January 2022, following the passage of the Accelerating Access to Justice Act,….

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Estate Planning, Property, Spouse, Wills

ChatGPT, draft my will

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I saw a meme the other day that said “No one hates lawyers more than other lawyers”. After reading this post, I think lawyer hate is about to get redirected. The surprising part of law school is that it doesn’t actually teach you how to draft legal documents. A prompt in ChatGPT to write a prenuptial or separation agreement will get a response that it “cannot provide legal documents such….

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General Revocation Clause in Will was Insufficient to Revoke Beneficiary Designations

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In Alger v. Crumb, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that a general revocation clause in a will did not revoke the testator’s TFSA and RRIF beneficiary designations. The Court concluded that under s. 51 and s. 52 of the Succession Law Reform Act (“SLRA”), the beneficiary designations have to be expressly referenced in a revocation clause and dismissed the appeal. Background The testator was survived by her four children.  Her four….

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Estate Litigation

Story of My Family

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Story of My Family is a Japanese drama that I have started watching on Netflix and  so far, in episode one it has all the intrigue that we see in the world of estates, including challenging family dynamics, aging, incapacity and undue influence. We are introduced to an aging pro wrestler who returns to his family after 20 years to fight for his inheritance when his father — a respected….

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Caregiving
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