Think of the trustees under the Full Monty differently from the Executors. Trustees is another name for both and it confuses everyone. Just use the term “Legal Puppet” for the Full Monty Trustees and “Executors” for the person or people that administer the will(s). The Legal Puppets are mere place holders and are added on […]
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In the short, only 24 paragraph long, but incredibly dense decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal in the Brodylo Estate, a number of legal and practical estate issues are put forward. The case stands for many propositions, but none more clearly than having more than one executor is a questionable idea unless there is […]
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In November of 2023, Justice Graeme Mew rendered a very interesting decision in the case of the estate of Robert James. On its surface, it was a relatively straightforward filed over the counter application. This is an example of estate litigation at the very doorstep of the process. For those who are not regularly involved […]
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The 2023 decision of Justice Robert Charney in Jackson v. Rosenberg is as the judge himself describes, “a Cautionary Tale for persons who might be tempted to use joint tenancy to avoid paying probate fees”. This is an example of Estate Litigation before there is even an estate. The case is a relatively long and […]
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In the interesting Saskatchewan case of Gilchrist v. Gilchrist decided in September 2023 by Justice Curry, we have a number of legal issues and a family tragedy laying atop each other. The facts are relatively simple although quite sad. Within a family, a brother had been convicted of sexually assaulting his sister over a number […]
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In the summer of 2023, Justice Mandhane of the Ontario Superior Court decided a case that related to a family argument between a widowed mother and one of her adult sons. As is quite common, the Sidhu family occupied a home in Brampton in which not only the grandmother, the registered sole owner of the […]
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The following has been brought to our attention by our former and still greatly missed partner, the now Honourable Mr. Justice Marvin Kurz of the Ontario Superior Court. Justice Kurz remarked “I used to deliver the New York Post when I was a kid in Forest Hills. Now I am mentioned in that very paper.” […]
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In other blog articles, we have touched on what this author calls the horseshoe rule of Wills. Prior to January 1, 2022, for a Will in Ontario to be found to be valid, it had to meet the minimal requirements set out in The Succession Law Reform Act. However, since the onset of COVID, the […]
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The facts of this case can be found at Part 1 of this blog The court reviewed as we have in other blog articles various areas of law such as the law of resulting trust and undue influence, the most important of which is the 2007 Supreme Court of Canada decisions in Pecore and the […]
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THE FACTS – PART 1 We have the elsewhere discussed the legal components of a gift and its ramifications. We suggest our readers simply use the search bar on our website to find a number of blogs touching on “gifts”. A common fact scenario when a court examines the issue of a gift arises from […]
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