Articles 2023

Toronto Federal Prosecutor Jason Mitschele recounts his experience navigating law school, the legal system, and COVID-19 Zoom court as a blind lawyer.

Point-form summary of what was discussed at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal's (WSIAT or Tribunal) Stakeholder event on May 25, 2022.

This past term, the OBA Trusts and Estates Section created its first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee. The Subcommittee first worked on identifying and developing its vision and mission, and then went on to propose a number of strategies to further that vision and mission. The EDI Subcommittee looks forward to the next steps in advancing equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives at the OBA.

Estate planning can be particularly difficult for parents of special needs children. Such children may need to be treated differently in the estate planning context, perhaps by receiving an unequal distribution from the parents’ estates to ensure they are provided for sufficiently. This raises an important question: will an unequal distribution for this purpose lead to a Will challenge by other family members?

The Brown Bag Lunch is a great forum to raise interesting and challenging practice questions among Trusts and Estates colleagues. In May, OBA members met for another monthly Brown Bag Lunch. Topics discussed included a recent decision about pour-over Wills, practical issues in obtaining an ancillary grant of probate, and more.

In April, the Ontario Estates Bench-Bar Liaison Committee held two meetings: the regularly scheduled meeting, and a special meeting at which Justice Dietrich made an announcement regarding the Toronto Estates and Commercial Lists. During the regular quarterly meeting, the committee discussed, among other things, the adoption or adaptation of the Toronto estates practice direction in other regions, and whether consent orders are permitted to be sought at 9:30 scheduling appointments.

The April Brown Bag Lunch was as interesting as ever. Attendees shared their experiences and gave input on a number of topics raised, including how to draft clauses for executor’s compensation and other practical matters.

When someone dies without a Will in Ontario, there are several issues that can come up vis-à-vis the deceased person’s spouse. One is the spouse’s preferential share, which was recently increased to $350,000, and another is whether the spouse will even be entitled to share in the distribution of the deceased person’s estate on an intestacy. Is Ontario behind the times in dealing with spouses in its intestacy rules?

During the fall of 2020, when Ontarians were hunkering down for the second COVID-19 pandemic wave, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released its decision in Kik Interactive Inc. v. AIG Insurance Company of Canada . The Court was tasked with interpreting whether the respondent insurer’s securities exclusion worked to preclude coverage for cryptocurrency sales to the public.