Jonathan Pellow

Total 11 Posts

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Jonathan is a lawyer at de VRIES LITIGATION LLP, specializing in estate, capacity, and trust disputes. More of Jonathan's blogs can be found at https://devrieslitigation.com/author/jpellow/

Testamentary Fraud

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Undue influence, a common claim to be heard in the context of will challenges, occurs when a testator is forced or coerced into changing his or her will or creating a new one in favour of the coercing party. A closely related concept is testamentary fraud. Although testamentary fraud does not involve direct coercion, legal scholars consider it to be a subset of undue influence. Like ‘regular’ undue influence, the….

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Contested wills, Estate Litigation, Undue influence

Who holds the burden of proof when undue influence is claimed?

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A man photographs seagulls.

In the estates context, undue influence is often alleged in order to challenge a will or an inter vivos transfer of property, often a family home or cottage. When a party in a legal dispute alleges that there was undue influence which party bears the burden of proving (or disproving) whether this is true? Will challenges Generally speaking, if a will meets the criteria for formal validity, it will be….

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Elder Care, Estate Litigation, Joint Tenancy, Power of Attorney, Succession Planning, Testamentary Capacity, Undue influence, Wills

Dependant and non-dependant beneficiaries

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One kind of claim that estate litigators often bring against an estate is a claim for dependant’s support. These claims are made pursuant to Part V of the Succession Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.26 (the “SLRA”), and are commenced by way of application. The core of such a claim is that the deceased testator did not provide adequately for a dependant, whom the deceased was supporting prior to….

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Dependant Support, Estate Litigation

The substantial compliance rules in action

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Last summer I wrote a number of blog posts that touched on the then- new “substantial compliance” rules found at Section 21.1 of the Succession Law Reform Act that came into effect at the beginning of 2022. As a quick refresher, the crux of this provision is that the Court has the authority to validate wills and codicils that are invalid due to issues with their form or execution. In….

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Examination of non-parties

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Production of documentary evidence and examinations are key parts of the litigation process as a matter proceeds towards trial. In some cases, an applicant may wish to examine non-parties, in addition to the opposing litigants. In an estates context, these can include family members of the deceased, accountants or solicitors that helped the deceased manage his or her financial affairs or draft a will, or business partners of the deceased…..

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Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Wills

Contempt of Court

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We’ve all heard of contempt of court, a common fixture in many courtroom dramas and law-related TV shows. In reality, civil contempt of court is quite uncommon, arising only on occasion during contentious litigation. In the estates context, contempt of court is most often linked to a party’s refusal to account for, release or transfer funds as directed by the court. For a litigant, it can be very disheartening to….

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Courts, Estate Litigation
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