Estate Litigation

Total 416 Posts

Lucid Intervals and Testamentary Capacity

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As I understand, “lucid interval” is a legal doctrine that holds that testamentary capacity may exist at a moment in time even though the testator’s general state would be inconsistent with the conclusion that he possessed testamentary capacity.[i] The idea is that an individual who suffers from mental illness or a neurological condition may have periods in which his or her ability to reason and make thoughtful choices is preserved…..

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Capacity Law, Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Wills

Conflicts of Interest – When Lawyers Will Be Removed (or not)

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By the time a matter reaches trial, a client and her lawyer will have spent a significant amount of time together. A bond often develops over the course of the relationship, with the client trusting that her lawyer will put forward her position forcibly and knowledgeably. As a result, an attempt by the other side to remove the lawyer from the file is disruptive and often viewed with suspicion. To….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Trustee Disputes

A Joint Tenancy Gone Awry

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Many of my fellow bloggers have blogged about joint tenancies, whether the focus of those blogs was on a case where the facts involved a joint tenancy or was to simply advise of the issues and risks related thereto. (See Brittany Sud’s blog on January 19, 2018, Steven Frye’s blog on June 6, 2017, and my blogs of July 29, 2016 and November 11, 2010). This blog is going to….

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Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Property

Changes in the Estates World in 2019

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All of us at AllAboutEstates hope you had a happy new year and will have an equally happy 2019. As we start the new year, here are some changes estate litigators should be aware about as well as some upcoming developments. The Rules of Civil Procedure have been amended (the changes are not yet on CanLII) that if no confirmation form is provided, the motion will be deemed to have been….

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Estate Litigation

Not So Fast – Who Controls the Body?

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“He knows where the bodies are buried” is a throwaway line from Orson Wells’ cinematic masterpiece, Citizen Kane. That line soon took on a life of its own and entered the cultural vernacular. In the world of estates, a more frequent problem is not finding the bodies but deciding where to bury the bodies. In Miller v. Miller, 2016 ONSC 6625, Justice Myers of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Funeral Planning, Succession Planning, Wills

Interpreting “Per Stirpes” In Ambiguous Wills

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“The ghosts of dissatisfied testators,” a Chancery judge once noted, “Wait on the banks of the Styx for the judges who misconstrued their wills.” As such, the court will take great care to ensure that wills are properly interpreted, even if they are oblique or confusing. This was the situation in Estate of Stanley Moore v. Moore, 2018 ONSC 6420 where the court had to choose between four different interpretations….

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Estate Litigation
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