At the outset, there can be a lot of mystery surrounding estate litigation. Every person involved likely has a different story, and will reveal previously unknown information as matters progress and affidavits are exchanged. As new facts emerge over the course of litigation, a party may discover new claims arising from the same series of events, wish to add or remove a party, or simply change how much they are seeking in damages or costs. When this happens, a party can consider amending their pleadings. The question of when and how amendments can be made are governed by Rule 26 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.
When it comes to amending pleadings, the court must balance two goals. One the one hand, allowing parties to amend pleadings may increase efficiency by allowing all the issues arising from the same set of facts to reach some kind of resolution. On the other hand, allowing a party to amend their pleadings too late in the litigation process can be unfair to other parties who may now have to change up their entire litigation strategy.
This second goal is the reason that it is generally easier to amend pleadings at the beginning of a proceeding. Under Rule 26.02(a), a party can amend their pleadings without leave if they do so before the close of pleadings and the amendment does not mean a party needs to be added or removed.
Depending on the stage proceedings are at, a party who wishes to amend their pleadings may have to seek leave of the court to do so. In the event leave must be sought, Rule 26.01 makes it clear that the bar for the court to grant leave is not high. Rule 26.01 states that the court “shall” grant leave for a party to amend a pleading unless to do so would prejudice a party in a way that cannot be compensated for by costs or an adjournment. Save for instances involving long expired limitation periods, the courts are generally loathe to prevent a party from amending pleadings.
