In this video senior counsel describes a case scenario where a younger woman marries a vulnerable elderly man in order to swindle him out of his money. The issues canvassed include testamentary capacity, undue influence and the level of capacity necessary to marry.
Senior lawyer relates story of how an executor refuses to show beneficiaries the will or the accounts. The discussion deals with fiduciary duties and remedies available when executors breach their obligations.
It has been 18 years since the Court of Appeal for Ontario decided Stone v. Stone. In this case the Court characterized inter vivos gifts from a father to his adult children as a fraudulent conveyance because the gifts were intended to thwart a spouse’s entitlement under the Family Law Act. Let’s see how courts have applied this seminal case.
How do we know when someone has died? This question has been the subject of debate in Western societies since at least the eighteenth century, and in modern times has become increasingly fraught due to advancements in medical knowledge and resuscitative technology. Historically, the conception of the moment of death was largely based upon cessation of a person’s breathing and heartbeat. However, in recent years most countries have accepted that “brain death” is an additional basis upon which to define death.
A discussion about the gifts given to a daughter by her mother while the daughter is the attorney for property and personal care. It raises issues that flow from such gifts including the presumption of undue influence and whether taking such gifts breaches the fiduciary duty of the attorney for property and personal care.
The lawyers discuss the circumstance where the deceased had a relationship with someone outside of their marriage who wants her "fair" share of the inheritance. The video discusses the second "wife's" entitlement under the Succession Law Reform Act and case law.
Technology has both lessened and increased people’s ability to stay anonymous in society. Sometimes that anonymity has necessitated the application of old legal and equitable doctrines to new legal problems.
There are two ways a trustee can have their administration approved and be discharged. First, they may apply for a passing of accounts pursuant to section 23 of the Trustee Act. Alternatively, they “can avoid the cost and delay of a passing, and instead ask the beneficiaries to approve their administration and provide for their informal discharge directly” by way of a release.
One of the most important features of a joint tenancy is the right of survivorship. The right of survivorship means that when one of the owners dies, his or her interest in the property passes to the other named owner. To avoid this result and have an ownership interest pass to an estate, the joint tenancy must be severed so that each ownership interest is converted to a tenancy in common.
In D’Angelo Estate, Re, the Court held that it had jurisdiction to appoint a monitor to supervise the actions of the co-executors and ensure that the Estate was properly administered. Justice Quinn relied on the court’s discretion to attach conditions to the grant of probate, as are necessary, to achieve the wishes of the testator. In the specific circumstances of this case, it was determined that the appointment of a Monitor would respect the testator’s choice of estate trustees.