Estate Litigation

Total 414 Posts

Separation Agreements, Support Obligations, and Summary Judgment

Separation agreements commonly include a requirement that one of the spouses maintains a life insurance policy in favour of the other in order to “secure” support payments (either child support or spousal support). It is equally as common to find out, on the death of the supposedly insured spouse, that she let the insurance policy lapsed, changed the designated beneficiary, or reduced the amount of the policy. What happens next?….

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Contracts, Dependant Support, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Separation, Spouse

Ignorance is Bliss

Our friend recently told us that his sister had done a DNA genetic test with one of the companies that provides ancestry and  health information.  What she found out was not what she was expecting at all.  No, she does not have ‘royal’ roots but she does have twin half brothers that she did not know existed.  It turns out that my friend’s mom had, before she married his father,….

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Contested wills, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation

To Boldly Go Where No Estate Litigation Has Gone Before

Even if you have never seen an episode of Star Trek you are probably familiar with “Beam me up, Scotty”[1] or Mr. Spock’s ears. The judges of our Superior Court frequently mine the show for metaphors.[2] Gene Roddenberry is widely known as the mind behind Star Trek but less well known is his ugly estate litigation fight that centered around the definition of “Star Trek.” Mr. Roddenberry and his first….

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Estate Litigation

Disproportionate Inheritance? WESA to the Rescue

This blog was written by Aathiya Bala, Associate Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotia Wealth Management   Nahar and Nihal Litt arrived from India in 1964 with modest beginnings. The couple worked tireless hours building their family’s farm business estate for decades. Their children, who were between the ages of three and fourteen when arriving to Canada, helped cultivate their family business throughout the years. The family began to acquire….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, In the News

Too much “Legalese” – Better Pay Attention!

  This Blog was written by: Emily Racine   While reviewing wills with clients, the focus is often on the dispositive provisions of the will; in other words, clients tend to focus on the first five pages of the will and leave the rest to the lawyers. For the most part, this is for good reason. Wills often contain 10 or more pages of boiler plate language that can put….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Uncategorized, Wills

Probate and the Humans Rights Tribunal of Ontario

On June 29, 2019, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “HRTO”) released an interim decision which impacts upon estate trustees and which calls for some friendly scrutiny from estate solicitors and litigators. My colleague, Jacob Kaufman, blogged about a previous and related HRTO 2017 case which required that a certificate of appointment of estate trustee (probate) be obtained – both where there is and is not a will – in order….

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Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Wills
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