Estate Administration and Probate Applications

Total 137 Posts

Locating Unknown or Missing Heirs to an Estate

How should an estate trustee proceed when they cannot identify or locate all of the heirs to an estate? In some cases, a challenge arises where a will does not identify the beneficiaries by name, but by class or some other description. For example, a will may leave the residue of the estate to the testator’s “nieces and nephews” without specifically naming them. Where a deceased died without a will,….

Locating Unknown or Missing Heirs to an Estate Continue Reading »

Contested wills, Courts, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict

Frivolous Notices of Objection Can be Struck Out

Counsel faced with responding to frivolous objections to an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee may wish to consider rule 25.11 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 25.11 allows the court to strike out (all or part of) a pleading, without leave to amend, on the ground that the pleading is scandalous, frivolous or vexatious. In Dessisa and Wolde v Demisie the Applicants, Dessisa and Wolde,….

Frivolous Notices of Objection Can be Struck Out Continue Reading »

Contested wills, Costs, Courts, Credibility, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Guardianship, Joint Tenancy, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Separation, Testamentary Capacity, Undue influence, Wills

Master the ETDL Appointment

Estate Trustees During Litigation are appointed in a wide variety of situations where a neutral party is needed to administer and preserve the estate assets. The bar for their appointment is lower than to remove an estate trustee…..

Master the ETDL Appointment Continue Reading »

Contested wills, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Fiduciary Professions, Passing Of Trustees’ and Executors’ Accounts, Trustee, Wills

Estates Law and Privacy Law: An Incomplete Intersection (Part III)

This is the third and final entry in a three-part blog series about the current state of estates law vis-à-vis privacy law. Part I focused on the relevant federal and provincial privacy legislation. Part II examined significant court decisions relating to this area. Part III will look at solutions for lawyers to help their clients manage their estate planning to be compliant with privacy law requirements. The previous two entries….

Estates Law and Privacy Law: An Incomplete Intersection (Part III) Continue Reading »

Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Property

What is it you guys do anyway?

Today’s blog is being brought to you by guest blogger, Betty Laidlaw, a law clerk in the Private Client Services group of Fasken LLP. When someone asks me what I do for a living and I answer, “I’m a law clerk”, I often get blank stares.  When I say “paralegal”, that is somewhat more understandable, but it is not accurate.  Even people in the legal profession don’t always know exactly….

What is it you guys do anyway? Continue Reading »

Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Executors, Passing Of Trustees’ and Executors’ Accounts, Probate Tax, Wills

Revocation of Wills

In the recent case of Sokalski Estate (Re), 2019 ABQB 285, the deceased left two wills one in 2011 and the other 2017, without expressly revoking the earlier one. The estate applied to the Court for a determination regarding which document or documents form the deceased Mr. Sokalski’s last will. The applicant representatives of the Estate were the deceased’s sons.The respondents were the deceased’s daughters. The parties were unable to….

Revocation of Wills Continue Reading »

Contested wills, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Investments, Uncategorized, Wills
Scroll to Top