Estate Planning

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When Does a Class of Beneficiaries Close?

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“To my grandchildren…” Sometimes, a testator will leave testamentary gifts to an undefined class of people, rather than to beneficiaries by name. Gifts might be left to “my children” or “my grandchildren” or even “the children of my niece” without any further specifications in the will[1]. This practice raises a question. Who are the precise members of this type of undefined class? Is the testator referring to people who fit….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning

Are Domestic Contracts Becoming More Popular?

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When I explain to people whom I’m meeting for the first time that I’m a lawyer and that among my areas of practice I draft domestic contracts, I’m often met with a response to the effect of “You mean, like, a pre-nup?” I can confirm that a “pre-nup” is, in fact, what I mean. In Ontario, they’re called domestic contracts, and they can take one of two forms: marriage contracts,….

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

Walters v. Walters: Limits to “Absolute Discretion” and Judicial Intervention by: Yvonne Mazurak

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A recent Court of Appeal decision, Walters v Walters, 2022 ONCA 38, addresses a trustee’s requirement to give effect to a testator or settlor’s intentions when exercising discretion with respect to distributions from a discretionary trust. At issue was whether the trustees had improperly relied on extraneous or irrelevant factors when exercising such discretion. The decision, written by Justice Sarah Pepall for the Court, is a helpful read as it….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Family Conflict, Wills

Has a Contingent Beneficiary Asked for an Accounting?

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An estate trustee does not have an obligation to provide a contingent beneficiary with an accounting; nonetheless, some form of accounting is generally done at the request of a contingent beneficiary. If accounts are not provided, a contingent beneficiary may bring an application to compel an estate trustee to pass their accounts. This will be costly and may be what the contingent beneficiary is trying to avoid in requesting a….

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Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Passing Of Trustees’ and Executors’ Accounts, Wills

Codicils within Multiple Wills and the Complexity Between Them

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Today’s blog was written by Najib Painda, Wills & Estates Law Clerk at Fasken LLP   As you may know, the purpose of a Codicil is to effect minor changes within an existing Estate plan without the need to create a whole new Will. In today’s age of technology, where new documents can be produced with relative ease, Codicils are becoming less common. When a client is looking to make….

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Estate Planning, Wills

How’s it going … with the new probate forms?

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It has been two months since the new process and forms for obtaining a Certificate of Appointment (probate grant) came into effect at the beginning of the year under Ontario Regulation 709/21.  As my colleague, Sandra Arsenault, wrote in her blog “The new amendments, which come into effect as of January 1, 2022, drastically alter the probate procedure by eliminating 43 existing forms, introducing 8 new consolidated forms and amending….

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Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, Wills
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