Can Estate Trustees Keep a Holdbacks for Legal Fees?

by: , March 12, 2024

Right to Indemnification of Legal Fees Section 23.1 of the Trustee Act, RSO 1990, c T.23 confirms that estate trustees are entitled to be indemnified for the legitimate costs of carrying out their duties. In other words, estate trustees should not have bear the costs of the estate administration. This includes an estate trustee’s legal…read more

Notice of Objection to Accounts

by: , August 16, 2021

A passing of accounts refers to the process whereby the court approves of the estate trustee’s accounts. The accounts provide, among other things, details relating to the estate’s capital and revenue receipts and disbursements. While an estate trustee can voluntarily bring an application to pass accounts or be compelled to do so by the court,…read more

What Is a Formal Application to Pass Accounts?

by: , September 28, 2020

Estate trustees, attorneys for property, guardians of property and trustees of a trust (collectively referred to here as “fiduciaries”) are all obligated to keep detailed records, or accounts, of their management of assets. Fiduciaries can be compelled to pass accounts by those with an interest in the trust property or by those with a close…read more

But Everything’s Depending on the Way the Wind May Blow [1]

by: , April 2, 2018

Can an estate trustee move to strike a beneficiary’s Notice of Objection to Accounts in the face of their Application to Pass Accounts, based on any of the Limitations Act, 2002, and/or laches and acquiescence? This was the discreet, though important, issue considered by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Wall Estate, 2018 ONSC…read more

In the Absence of Accounting Records, What are the Options?

by: , May 1, 2014

The Ontario Court of Appeal in Pirani v Esmail was asked to determine the appropriate way to determine the quantum of damages when no accounting records are available. In a 2-1 decision, the majority held that the expert’s reconstruction of accounts was not reliable given the near absence of accounting records. However, the dissenting judge…read more

Court Need Not Always Order a Fiduciary to Account

by: , September 4, 2013

In an earlier blog by fellow blogger Jasmine Sweatman, she commented on the emerging principle of proportionality in our judicial system and how it might impact on a fiduciary’s duty to pass accounts.  She queried: Where does proportionality “fit” with the right of a beneficiary of an estate or trust  to review and make inquiries of the…read more