Articles 2024

Two recent Superior Court judges depart from the court's ruling in Calmusky that a beneficiary designation is subject to the presumption of resulting trust.

Julie Weller and Tristan Hunter provide insightful analysis on a recent WSIAT decision involving chromatic mental stress entitlement and its potential implications for employers.

What happens when a worker receives a COVID-19 vaccine as a mandatory requirement of their employment and suffers a serious and unexpected reaction? Cassandra Ma summarizes WSIB's new guidelines on the adjudication of COVID-19-related benefits.

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) is consulting on four new initiatives, including new guidelines and measures aimed at ensuring compliance with key environmental laws relevant to the development industry. These laws and initiatives are applicable to the land use planning process, affecting municipal decision-making, development guidelines and penalties for non-compliance. The four initiatives are summarized, and their impact analyzed, in this article.

An overview of the amendments of Bill 229 to the Conservation Authorities Act.

The "deceptively simple" question of whether a spouse had capacity to marry is one that lies at the intersection of family, estates and elder law. This case comment reconsiders the important decision of Tanti v. Tanti, on capacity to marry, in light of the reforms to the SLRA by the Accelerating Access to Justice Act. As the author explains, even after the SLRA amendments come into force on January 1, 2022, marriage has the potential to dramatically change the distribution of a spouse's estate.

Gain insight into issues facing your fellow estates & trusts practitioners through this summary of the May meeting of the BBL group. Topics included the applicability of land transfer tax to various forms of transfers from an estate to a beneficiary, the changes effected by the Accelerating Access to Justice Act, 2021, and how to deal with various unusual testator requests, including for the destruction of estate property.

At the March meeting of the Estates List Users Committee, stakeholders discussed wait times for court dates, various measures the court has implemented to reserve time for contested matters, and how the Bar can assist in reducing the scheduling backlog over the upcoming months. The Minutes also provide resources for counsel working with CaseLines, which is now being used for all contested matters on the Estates List.

When the parties have settled, it appears as though the case is over and everyone can go home. However, the terms contained in the minutes of settlement are crucial to understanding the parties' agreement and any obligations going forward. The need for counsel to draft minutes of settlement reflecting the parties' agreement remains as important as ever in these challenging times.

The role played by the CCAA monitor in assisting the court as it shepherds along a corporate restructuring has evolved significantly over time. While still acting as the eyes of the court and standing apart from any particular stakeholder, recent developments in insolvency law have seen the monitor take on an increasingly active part in proceedings. The decision of the Québec Court of Appeal in Aquadis affirmed another such expansion of the monitor’s powers.