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In the recent Ontario Court of Appeal case of Leith v. Leith Estate, 2024 ONCA 863 (CanLII), the Court heard two motions before it.  The appellant is the spouse of the deceased.  In the lower court the spouse argued that she was entitled to an equalization payment as the deceased did not adequately provide for her in his will.  The spouse’s right to an equalization payment was not disputed.  For….

Justice David M. Brown recently released a paper entitled, “THE FIVE HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE AND ACCESSIBLE CIVIL COURTS: TRANSPARENCY; PERSPICACITY; CREATIVITY; SIMPLICITY; AND ACCOUNTABILITY – Reflections at the end of a judicial career”. The paper summaries the key lessons Justice Brown has learned throughout his career on the Bench. Justice Brown has been a judge for over 18 years, having spent more than 8 years as a trial judge….

The court has an inherent jurisdiction to refuse an appointment of an estate trustee even where the application is unopposed.  This inherent jurisdiction was affirmed by the Ontario Court of Appeal in James Estate (Re), 2024 ONCA 623, when it upheld the lower court’s decision to refuse an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee (“CAET”).  In James Estate, the appellant brought his application for a CAET with….