Courts

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Lam v Law Estate: Gender bias permits variation of discriminatory will

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Today’s blog post was written by Latoya Brown, an Associate at Fasken LLP. The discussion of discriminatory wills continues with a new case out of the British Columbia Supreme Court. In Lam v Law Estate, 2024 BCSC 156, the court varied a testatrix’s will on the reasoning that the testatrix’s bias did not meet contemporary standards of fairness. The testatrix was survived by her two independent adult children, her son….

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Capacity Law, Caregiving, Compensation, Contested wills, Courts, Dependant Support, Elder Law, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Succession Planning, Uncategorized, Wills

Waters v Henry: Respecting a Testator’s Free Will to Make “Bad” Decisions

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Irina Samborski, associate and Caroline Mercer, articling student, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP When an estate is litigated, a deceased person’s decision-making is forced into the public record. Sometimes, the court is asked to pass judgement and correct decisions that may seem unreasonable or unfair. However, some courts prefer to uphold the deceased’s freedom to decide—no matter what the living may think. This was the case in The Estate of William….

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Contested wills, Courts, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning

When exercising discretion, what factors should a Trustee of a discretionary trust take into account?

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Maddi Thomas, Associate Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Where a trust holds non-liquid assets that are to be distributed amongst multiple beneficiaries, how can the trustee ensure that their use of discretion was as fair, equitable, and diplomatic as possible? On a related note, when will a court interfere with a trustee’s discretion? Understanding the Scope of Discretion First and foremost, it is important that any trustee understands the scope of….

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Courts, Trustee, Trustee Disputes, Trusts, Uncategorized, Wills

Administering an Estate: A Marathon of Responsibilities

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We had a Zoom call with our adult children a few weekends ago. We talked about our son’s engagement, as our daughter hadn’t yet heard the details of how he had proposed. We also talked about our daughter’s recent 5K run at the Toronto Zoo and how it compared to the half marathon that our son had run a few years ago. This family discussion and a recent work discussion….

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Courts, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Planning, Executors, Probate Tax, Tax Issues, Wills

PROCEED CAREFULLY – FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES

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Kira Domratchev, Associate Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP I recently came across an interesting decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice where the Court used the doctrine of a resulting trust to reach an outcome on a series of events that left a creditor unable to collect an outstanding costs award. LPIC v Fiore et al, 2021 ONSC 7860 was a decision in an action by a plaintiff indemnity company….

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Courts, Credibility, Real Estate, Trusts

Does an Adult Child have an Obligation to Support their Parent?

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*This blog was researched and authored by Jonathon Vander Zee, who is an articling student with de VRIES LITIGATION LLP.  There are many different kinds of support that can be sought as relief in a legal proceeding, such as child support, spousal support, and dependant’s support. These types of support are frequently litigated and can often be the central issue in a family or estate dispute. One of the lesser….

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Courts, Dependant Support, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Uncategorized
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