It is common to find a provision in a will which allows the estate trustee to distribute assets in specie – meaning instead of selling all the estate assets and dividing the proceeds between the beneficiaries, the estate trustee may transfer the assets directly to the beneficiaries as payment in kind. Giving the estate trustee […]
Two things got me thinking about power of attorney litigation. I listened to a great program on CBC on Sunday, where the guests – an estate litigator in Toronto and an elder law specialist from the west – talked about the trend that many estate litigators have seen lately. That is, would-be heirs no longer
In daBalinhard, the Saskatchewan Court found that a history of alcoholism, short term memory loss and unusual behavior was not enough to sustain a will challenge. After a forty-year marriage, the testator, John, and his wife, Shirley, separated on August 16, 2011. Two months after their separation, John executed a new will on October 20,
I recently came across this news article while reading about the litigation surrounding the final days of Casey Kasem. The article detailed the recent enactment of new sections to California’s probate code which will come into effect January 1, 2016. The changes will require “conservators” (a position comparable to Ontario’s court-appointed guardian of the person
Although they sound similar, there are important procedural differences between “removing” an estate trustee and “renouncing” the right to act as an estate trustee. Where the named estate trustee has not yet begun acting in her role as estate trustee (i.e. she has not yet undertaken any work administering the estate), she may “resign” or
