Near Death Decisions and Deathbed Wills

Last week, Justin de Vries presented at the Estate Planning Council of Canada’s All About Estate Planning event. For this talk, he co-authored a paper with Tyler Lin on the subject of Near Death Decisions & Deathbed Wills. We hope you enjoy reading this paper.  

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Estates, Trusts and Capacity Case Law Update

On September 23-24, Justin de Vries will be speaking at the Frontenac Law Association, 1000 Island Legal Conference in Gananoque, Ontario on the subject of Estates, Trusts and Capacity Case Law Update 2022. We hope you can attend. Happy reading.

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Three Practical Tips for Navigating a Deathbed Retainer

Did you know that deathbed wills are the original will? In this paper published by the Law Society of Ontario’s annual Six-Minute Estates Lawyer 2022 program, Justin de Vries and Tyler Lin explore best practices for solicitors in navigating a deathbed retainer scenario. This paper is structured around three general tips for the consultation, pre-retainer…

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A Practical Guide to Capacity Assessments in Litigation

The determination of whether a person is incapable is ultimately a legal one not a medical/clinical one. While a report from a certified capacity assessor is not necessarily required, the convention among lawyers and the court is to rely on a capacity assessment as the best evidence of incapacity where capacity is in dispute.

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Hotchpot Clauses: What Happens to Debts on Death?

In this paper co-authored by Justin de Vries and Tyler Lin, the authors deal with the “hotchpot clause”, a common estate planning tool. Part I of this paper addresses what is, and is not meant by this term with multiple meanings. Part II of this paper examines the three reasons for why, in the current…

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