Articles 2024

Following are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In Sosnowski v. MacEwen Petroleum Inc., the Court appears to have unconvincingly dialed back how far the “appropriate means” test can go to extend the limitation period. In this case, the employee waited until he was acquitted of theft (which took six years, including appeals) before suing for wrongful dismissal (he had been fired for cause because of the alleged theft).

Awareness and recognition of multi-parent families is growing, and in 2016 Canada took steps to recognize multi-parent families by enacting the All Families Are Equal Act ("EFCA"). The formal recognition of multi-parent families introduces with it various challenges and considerations for health care providers.

Highlights from the November 19, 2019 Brown Bag Lunch, including discussions of Notice Connect's Will registry, minor children as beneficiaries of Henson trusts, the use of the phrase "children per stirpes," how a successor executor can be appointed, and a new approach to confirming the capacity of a potential testator client.

A summary of the Charter Conference on October 3, 2019.

A short piece about LAO funding cuts, noting that budgetary policy may be being implemented in a discriminatory way.

A reminder to the profession: estate administration tax rates change effective January 1, 2020, as do deadlines for Estate Information Returns. Update your probate fee calculators and tickler systems accordingly!

In several common scenarios, an estate trustee may have to post a bond before the court will grant probate. Estate trustees routinely ask the court to waive the bond requirement, but the application process is more rigorous than many estates practitioners appreciate. Don't have your client's application needlessly rejected. This article, Part 1 of a two-part series, highlights common mistakes and oversights. Part 2 will explain how to obtain a bond, if it becomes necessary.

Highlights from the October 15 meeting of the OBA's Brown Bag Lunch program for estates and trusts practitioners, including discussion of common probate issues, insolvent estates, electronic estate-planning tools, and the purpose (or lack thereof) of survivorship clauses.

A summary of the Minister of Seniors Mandate Letter includes creating a national definition of elder abuse.

Victims of crime in Ontario will now get significantly less compensation and will no longer have their cases heard before an impartial adjudicator after Bill 100 amends the Compensation for Victims of Crime Act and dissolves the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.