Courts are sometimes asked to determine if a “testamentary-like” document is a will. In British Columbia, an executor brought an action to prove in solemn form that a questionnaire that the testator (“Ms. Garnett”) filled out and signed before two witnesses shortly before her death was a will that could be submitted for probate. Ms. Garnett was […]
In estate disputes, it is common for parties to try to claw back into the estate bank accounts that were held jointly with the testator before death. The law provides a mechanism to do this – a resulting trust. Briefly, a resulting trust works as follows: any time property is transferred to someone else for
In what circumstances will a court order a plaintiff to undergo a mental examination to determine whether she is a party under a legal disability who has to be represented by a litigation guardian? This was one of the issues for the court to determine in the recent Ontario case of 626381 Ontario Limited et al.
While administering an estate, one of the most difficult challenges an estate trustee can face is the situation where a beneficiary continues to reside in a property that is an estate asset when the estate trustee wishes to list the property for sale. When there is disagreement on this issue amongst co-estate trustees, an estate
The recent decision in Lehtonen v. Neill serves as a useful reminder of the sometimes overlooked subsection 22(3) of the Substitute Decisions Act. This provision prohibits the court from appointing a guardian where the court is satisfied that decision making for the incapable person can be met by a less intrusive means. It says: The Court shall not
