Estate Administration and Probate Applications

Total 135 Posts

Multiple Wills Across Civil and Common-Law Systems; Estate Planning That Provides An Advantage To Clients Who Hold Assets In Ontario And Quebec

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If structuring an estate plan across different Canadian jurisdictions didn’t raise enough considerations for an estate planner, add a different legal system to the mix, namely, Quebec’s civil law.  This post focuses on the estate-planning advantages available to clients who hold assets both in Ontario and Quebec, specifically the advantage of probate planning using multiple wills. Quebec Wills In contrast to Ontario, which has four types of wills under Ontario’s….

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Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Planning, Executors, Probate Tax, Wills

WHAT ABOUT A CORPORATE EXECUTOR?

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A lot has been written about how should choose an executor, and some of it in this blog place. A couple of years ago, fellow boggler Emily Hubling wrote eloquently about the risk and rewards of appointing a professional advisor as executor. I would like to revisit some of the points made in the context of appointing a corporate executor, some who is specifically skilled and trained for the role…..

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Attorney Compensation, Compensation, Credibility, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Planning, Executors, Fiduciary Professions, Trustee Compensation, Trusts, Uncategorized, Wills

Unclaimed Bodies and Setting Things Right

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Unhappily, it is not uncommon for family members to be at loggerheads as to who controls the body of a loved one and whether the body should be cremated or buried. I previously blogged on the 2018 case Miller v. Miller, a decision by Justice Myers of the ONSC, which dealt with this issue. In summary, the estate trustee has the authority to make funeral and burial arrangements. Nevertheless, fights….

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Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Executors, Family Conflict, Funeral Planning

Listing in a Time of COVID

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Regular court operations and limitation periods/statutory deadlines continue to be suspended in Ontario due to COVID-19 (as discussed further in my previous blog). However, this does not mean that litigation is somehow frozen or that deadlines in previous court orders do not apply. One party learned this painful lesson in Lima v. Ventura (Estate of), 2020 ONSC 3278. The facts in this case are depressingly common in Toronto. A deceased….

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Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Wills

Locating Unknown or Missing Heirs to an Estate

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How should an estate trustee proceed when they cannot identify or locate all of the heirs to an estate? In some cases, a challenge arises where a will does not identify the beneficiaries by name, but by class or some other description. For example, a will may leave the residue of the estate to the testator’s “nieces and nephews” without specifically naming them. Where a deceased died without a will,….

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Contested wills, Courts, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict

Frivolous Notices of Objection Can be Struck Out

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Counsel faced with responding to frivolous objections to an application for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee may wish to consider rule 25.11 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 25.11 allows the court to strike out (all or part of) a pleading, without leave to amend, on the ground that the pleading is scandalous, frivolous or vexatious. In Dessisa and Wolde v Demisie the Applicants, Dessisa and Wolde,….

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Contested wills, Costs, Courts, Credibility, Estate Administration, Estate Administration and Probate Applications, Estate Litigation, Executors, Family Conflict, Guardianship, Joint Tenancy, Power of Attorney, Powers Of Attorney and Guardianship Disputes, Separation, Testamentary Capacity, Undue influence, Wills
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