Contested wills

Total 116 Posts

Legislative Amendments Proposed in Light of Calmusky

On March 16, 2020, the Superior Court of Ontario released its decision in Calmusky v Calmusky. In Calmusky, the Court applied the presumption of resulting trust to a RIF that was designated to a particular beneficiary. The beneficiary was unable to rebut the presumption, and the Court ordered that funds from the RIF were to be paid to the estate. For a more detailed discussion on Calmusky, see Demetre Vasilounis’….

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Contested wills, Contracts, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Investments, Joint Tenancy, Resulting Trust, Trusts

When Are You Married?

Most know that you don’t have to be legally married to have a “spouse” for income tax purposes, although legal marriage will work. If you have been living with someone in a conjugal relationship for 12 months or more regardless of your sex at birth, you will be considered spouses for tax purposes. You can ignore the 12 month requirement if you are living together and you are both parents….

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Contested wills, Courts, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Spouse, Testamentary Capacity, Uncategorized, Wills

Do Personalty Clauses Cover All Personalty?

Today’s blog was written by guest blogger, Yvonne Mazurak, Articling Student at  Fasken LLP. With today being Black Friday, it seemed appropriate to write a post about things. Afterall, many of us will likely spend some time this weekend taking advantage of Black Friday deals and buying things for our loved ones (and possibly for ourselves as well). Personal items, or personalty, can be bequeathed to beneficiaries through the use….

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Contested wills, Estate Planning

Charitable, but not that charitable

This blog was written by Paula Lester – Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management No one can question that Eleena Murray, who passed away in May 2017 at the age of 99, had charitable intentions. On the other hand, exactly how charitable her intentions were is at the heart of pending litigation between Eleena’s family and the SPCA. Eleena’s Will, executed in 2003, leaves $440,000 in specific bequests….

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Charitable Giving, Contested wills, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, In the News

Electronic Wills in Ontario: Growing Interest, Growing Need, or Growing Concern?

A few months ago, I was sent this article in the Globe and Mail.[1] The article explores the notion of introducing legislation to legalize electronic wills in Ontario. Although some of us here in the estates and trusts world have experience deducing what the positives and negatives of electronic wills might be, I found the article interesting because it represents an instance where the discussion surrounding electronic wills is making….

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Contested wills, Estate Planning, Wills
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