Capacity Law

Total 144 Posts

Don’t let inheritance issues tear your family apart

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I was recently drawn to the Life section of the Toronto Star –  more specifically the “advice column” – by a compellling headline; to wit: “Don’t let inheritance issues tear your family apart”.  So far, sound advice. However, the author went on to provide some inaccurate information on Powers of Attorney to the “upset granddaughter” who’s concerned about another family member’s “dwindling the inheritance for myself and other relatives”.   Although the readership….

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Capacity Law, Estate Planning, Family Conflict

Capacity to execute a Will or POA: “Who and why” may be more important than “what”

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I write as a clinician directed by case law or statutory law when assessing the capacity of a testator or an individual executing Powers of Attorney. The criteria set out in case law (Banks v Goodfellow) for testamentary capacity have traditionally been weighted toward the notion of “what” the testator knows about their assets and their potential beneficiaries.  To be fair, there is a provision (somewhat vague) about the appreciation….

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Capacity Law, Contested wills, Estate Planning, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

Court Guidelines for Physician Assisted Death

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In light of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada granting the Federal Government an additional 4 months to draft and pass physician assisted death legislation, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has released practice directions for the legal profession and the public where a court order is sought allowing a patient to take his/her own life with the help of a doctor. This blog discusses those guidelines. ….

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Capacity Law, Geriatric Care Management, In the News

Consent for Treatment and Conflicts between Substitute Decision Makers: Options for Resolution

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As per the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA), and equally applicable to the Mental Health Act (MHA), capacity to consent to treatment is defined as: A person is capable with respect to a treatment if the person is able to understand the information that is relevant to making a decision about the treatment, and able to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision or lack of decision. When a person….

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Capacity Law, Elder Care, Elder Law, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Geriatric Care Management, Guardianship, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

Looking back, looking forward

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At year end, we typically engage in a retrospective examination, looking back on events and trying to make sense of them.  Simultaneously, there is a human instinct to make predictions as well as resolutions, both of which are notoriously unreliable.  The notion of predicting the future is one that is inherent in medicine by virtue of the fundamental role of a physician to make a diagnosis, but also concomitantly a….

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Capacity Law, Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Undue influence

Update on End of Life

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By now most of  us have heard that the Trudeau government is asking the Supreme Court to grant a six months extension to the deadline imposed last year as part of the Carter decision (see 2015 SCC 5). What this means is still unclear but adds to the speculation that the Trudeau government will be doing something about this issue – after further consultation, rather than just letting the Criminal….

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