Family Conflict

Total 257 Posts

Estate Lawyers: Did our Invitation Get Lost in the Mail?!

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Today’s blog was written by Jenna Ward, Articling Student, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. When clients plan engagement parties, weddings, baby showers or divorce parties (yes, divorce parties are becoming increasingly common) they may not think to invite their estate lawyer. Understandable. However, the unfortunate result may be that such life events impact estate planning in an undesirable way or even revoke estate plans completely. We recently encountered such a situation….

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Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Wills

POA for Property: A Marriage Sometimes Not Made in Heaven!

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In my ALLABOUTESTATES blogs, I have been writing about unanticipated consequences of appointing a power of attorney (POA) for property as per the Ontario Substitute Decisions Act[i] (SDA). Despite the apparent benefits for seniors to have a POA for property, nonetheless unanticipated problems include; Mistaken assumptions by both grantors and appointed attorneys that a signed POA for property that is effective immediately is supposedly “only a backup plan” for declared….

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Capacity Law, Elder Law, Family Conflict, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Testamentary Capacity

Will Challenges and the Well – Acquainted Lawyer

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Today’s blog was written by Jenna Ward, Articling Student, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin. A recent case of the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan has emphasized the significance of first, the relationship between a testator and his or her lawyer and second, the experience and tenure of such lawyer in assessing testamentary capacity and by extension, in determining the validity of a will. Bachman v. Scheidt, 2016 SKCA 150 Bachman v. Scheidt….

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Contested wills, Credibility, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Testamentary Capacity, Undue influence, Wills

Videographers Beware

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Occasionally, those hoping to demonstrate the capacity of a testator will film a video of the testator purporting to show that they were cognitively intact or that the will was a reflection of their independent and capable wishes. Unfortunately, the naïve interviewer makes the mistake of confusing the preservation of social graces for intact cognition and considers passive acquiescence as evidence of independence of mind. Clinicians understand, or should understand, that one….

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Capacity Law, Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Undue influence

Credibility is in the Eyes of the Judge

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I previously blogged about the presumption of resulting trust, which applies to gratuitous transfers between a parent and an adult child (equity presumes a bargain, and not a gift).   Rebutting the presumption of resulting trust (i.e. proving that the parent intended to make a gift to the adult child) often comes down to a matter of credibility – can the witness be believed? The British Columbia Court of Appeal has recently reminded….

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Credibility, Deference, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Resulting Trust

The OPGT and the Case of the Missing Estate Trustee

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As regular readers of this blog well know, not everyone dies with a will. When this happens, the Succession Law Reform Act (Part II) sets out who are the beneficiaries of the estate, while the Estates Act (section 29) ranks in order of priority who may apply to be estate trustee. This statutory system works well, until no one wishes to step into the role of estate trustee. When that….

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Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Executors, Family Conflict
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