Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

Total 71 Posts

Sumner and National Amusements

In a number of previous Blogs, there have been references to famous families feuding over estates. This Blog is about a similar story except that the subject, Sumner Redstone, is still alive at 92 years of age. For those who don’t know, Sumner Redstone is a media mogul. He currently owns the majority interest in Viacom and CBS Corporation (through National Amusements Inc.), estimated to be worth around $5 billion…..

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Capacity Law, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Succession Planning, Testamentary Capacity, Undue influence

Capacity to execute a Will or POA: “Who and why” may be more important than “what”

I write as a clinician directed by case law or statutory law when assessing the capacity of a testator or an individual executing Powers of Attorney. The criteria set out in case law (Banks v Goodfellow) for testamentary capacity have traditionally been weighted toward the notion of “what” the testator knows about their assets and their potential beneficiaries.  To be fair, there is a provision (somewhat vague) about the appreciation….

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Capacity Law, Contested wills, Estate Planning, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

Consent for Treatment and Conflicts between Substitute Decision Makers: Options for Resolution

As per the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA), and equally applicable to the Mental Health Act (MHA), capacity to consent to treatment is defined as: A person is capable with respect to a treatment if the person is able to understand the information that is relevant to making a decision about the treatment, and able to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision or lack of decision. When a person….

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Capacity Law, Elder Care, Elder Law, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Geriatric Care Management, Guardianship, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

Pre-Death POA Disputes

I have no statistics on this, but anecdotally, I have had many conversations lately with fellow estate litigators who have noticed the same recent trend in their practices.  That rather unseemly development is this:  expectant beneficiaries no longer wait until a person is dead to start fighting over inheritance money.  In more and more cases, the fights begin while the testator is still alive. A case decided earlier this month,….

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Elder Law, Estate Litigation, Family Conflict, Guardianship, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Trustee Disputes

Power of Attorney Terminated Despite No Misconduct

When a dispute arises inside a blended family over who will make substitute decisions for in incapable person, the court may have to step in. In Corewyn v McCulloch, 2015 ONSC 6039, Justice Sweeny appointed the incapable person’s daughter as her guardian, despite the existence of a valid power of attorney and the absence of any misconduct on the attorney’s part. Bill and Ena had been married for over thirty….

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Elder Care, Elder Law, Family Conflict, Geriatric Care Management, Guardianship, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes

AVOIDING PROBATE FEES WITH A POWER OF ATTORNEY?

Much has been written about probate fee avoidance. Can you with a power of attorney engage in probate fee avoidance on behalf of a testator whose estate may be subject to probate fees?
….

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Capacity Law, Contested wills, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Planning, Executors, Guardianship, Joint Tenancy, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Probate Tax, Property, Wills
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