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In Yurkiw Estate (Re), 2025 BCSC 1026 (CanLII), the Supreme Court of British Columbia clarified the scope of an estate trustee’s file that must be disclosed to beneficiaries. On November 21, 2024, the court ordered Heritage Trust, the estate trustee of the estate of David Thomas George Yurkiw, to produce its “entire file” to one of the beneficiaries of the estate, except for “any documents over which solicitor client privilege can….

In my capacity evaluation work, my clients (who are mostly lawyers) occasionally suggest that if I have already assessed that a decision maker has testamentary capacity, then I need not evaluate whether the decision-maker has capacity to appoint a power of attorney (POA) for property.  The reasoning is that because the threshold for testamentary capacity is higher than any other legal decision-making activity, if the decision-maker has testamentary capacity, then….

The recent case, Stewart Estate v Stewart, 2025 ONCA 575, provides guidance on the test for a stay pending appeal.  In Stewart, the deceased, William, executed a last will and testament (the “Will”) in 1989.  William died five years later.  He was survived by his wife, Edith, and their 13 children.  The Will gave a life estate to Edith, after which William’s two farms were to be transferred to his….

Section 35 of the Evidence Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.23 (“EA”) is often referred to as the “business records” exception to the rule against hearsay. That is because, under certain circumstances, section 35 of the EA allows business records (which are defined in section 35(1)) to be filed and admissible as evidence where the information in that document might otherwise be traditionally considered as hearsay. In order to qualify as….

Those in the estates bar know that it is a very high test to remove an estate trustee. Courts do not lightly interfere with a testator’s choice. However, where an estate trustee is in a conflict of interest and acts in a manner that puts the proper management of the trust property at risk, the test may be met. In Muscat v. Muscat Estate, 2025 ONCA 518 (CanLII) the Ontario….