Wills, Trusts & Estates
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December 13, 2024
Estate planning using options to purchase and right of first refusal
In the realm of estate litigation, the interpretation of will clauses that include options to purchase and rights of first refusal seems to be coming up more and more frequently. Recent cases like Cambareri v. Sorrenti, 2023 ONSC 4918, and Zboya v. Hicks, 2024 ABKB 525, to name a few, indicate that there is growing interest in will drafting and estate planning that includes options to purchase estate property, or alternatively, gives beneficiaries a right of first refusal to purchase such property.
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December 11, 2024
Ontario appeal decision clarifies ‘murky area of real estate law,’ lawyer says
Ontario’s top court has outlined what happens to the right of survivorship if a property owner severs a joint tenancy, something a lawyer involved in the case is calling a useful clarification for a “murky area” of real estate law.
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December 10, 2024
Date of death: Determining commencement of the limitation period
In our last article with Law360 Canada, Palak Mahajan and I wrote about the relevance of the recent decision of Ingram v. Kulynych Estate, 2024 ONCA 678, with respect to limitation periods. Limitation periods continue to be an overarching factor that plays one of the most important roles of every file/case that comes through the door. Another case that exemplifies the significance of limitation periods is Shannon v. Hrabovsky, 2024 ONCA 188 (Shannon), by the Court of Appeal, which addressed the issue of when the discoverability principle applies to estate claims and whether the limitation period runs from the date of death of the testator.
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December 06, 2024
3 new associates join Aird & Berlis
A recent news release from Aird & Berlis LLP announced the addition of Daniel Hunter, Linda Guma and Evan Pernica as associates.
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December 06, 2024
PROCEEDINGS - Appeals and judicial review - Standard of review - Palpable and overriding error
Appeal by Flanigan from dismissal of his application for family maintenance and support (FMS) against the estate of his late adult interdependent partner, Kirkland. Kirkland died on November 12, 2022, leaving her estate equally to her children in a will dated September 2, 2021, with no provision for Flanigan. The Court of King's Bench issued a grant of probate on February 9, 2023.
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December 02, 2024
Judicial appointment announced in B.C.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani announced the appointment of Lindsay R. LeBlanc as a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Victoria, a Nov. 29 news release announced.
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December 02, 2024
Debating privileged wills: Should we still have them?
Most courts in Canada now have the power to validate wills that do not comply with the requisite formalities of execution and submit them to probate, with the exception of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northwest Territories. Ontario is the most recent province to introduce the will-validating power, having enacted s. 21.1 of the Succession Law Reform Act (the SLRA) on Jan. 1, 2022.
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November 29, 2024
The future of AI and probate applications
While modern artificial intelligence (“AI”) has already proved an immensely useful tool, with IBM’s Watson serving as an early example of a natural language processor able to receive and respond to plain language inquiries in plain language with a high degree of accuracy, it has also proven to have its limitations. Newer systems, such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, are becoming ubiquitous and, to the extent these systems are designed to be responsive to inquiries, they are limited by factors such as the clarity and precision of the questions posed to them.
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November 29, 2024
LSO addresses new working groups, information on confidentiality of investigations
Ontario’s law society used its November Convocation to unveil a new working group focusing on the “long-term future” of the province’s paralegals and to codify rules around the confidentiality of information gathered in tribunal investigations.
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November 27, 2024
Law360 Canada Pulse survey: what lawyers really think about their profession
Find out what lawyers really think about their profession in Law360 Canada Pulse’s Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.