Estate Litigation

Total 413 Posts

1993: Good Year for Baseball – Bad Year for Litigation

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What made 1993 a memorable year? Justice Howard addressed that question in the opening seven paragraphs of his decision in Meriano v Benoot, 2016 ONSC 4839. Bill Clinton, Sir John Major, Kim Campbell and Jean Chretien all took office.  Czechoslovakia separate into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prince changed his name to a symbol. There were no Taylor Swift songs on the radio because, as his Honour archly noted, “the talented….

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Estate Litigation

Determining the CAPITAL DIVIDEND ACCOUNT BALANCE: no longer a shot in the dark?

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The capital dividend account (“CDA”) is a tax free surplus account within a private corporation which gives shareholders designated capital dividends, tax-free. The CDA typically contains the non-taxable portion of the company’s capital gains net of capital losses, capital gains received by other companies, proceeds of life insurance on death and other capital like distributions. The CDA account is often a central feature of tax planning for individuals with private….

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Business Succession Planning, Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, In the News, Investments, Small Business, Succession Planning, Tax Issues, Trusts

Challenging a loved one’s Will? You’re gonna need evidence

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The recent decision in Taylor-Reid v Taylor may seem to be the typical case of an adult child claiming that, ‘dad’s new wife unduly influenced him to cut me out of his Will’, but, on a summary judgment motion, the court found that there was absolutely no evidence to substantiate the plaintiff’s claim. In fact, the evidence showed that, if there was undue influence, it may have been on the….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Undue influence

Parenticide Prevents a Beneficiary from Receiving Under a Will

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Last year, a son was accused of murdering his parents in Connecticut after they threatened to take him out of their will. There have been a handful of cases over the past century in Canada with similar tragic circumstances. The long established rule in Canada (known as the “slayer rule” in the United States) is that a beneficiary cannot receive a gift from a will if the beneficiary murdered the….

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Estate Litigation

Feelings not enough in cottage fight

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You have an emotional connection to your late grandfather’s cottage. Your mother and your grandfather’s estate trustees hate each other. You don’t think that they will treat you fairly if you want to buy the cottage. Is this sufficient reason to remove the estate trustees? The Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s answer is “No”. In Woolnaugh v Dare et al, 2016 ONSC 4013, one of the testator’s grandchildren applied to court to remove….

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Cottage, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation

Estate Trustee During Litigation – A Refresher from the STEP 2016 National Conference

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The reality is, with the impending transfer of one of the largest amounts of wealth in our history from one generation to the next, we are likely to see a continued up-tick in estate litigation. Along with that there will be the increased need for a neutral party to preserve the assets of the estate during the course of such litigation…..

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Trustee Disputes
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