Attendees of the Trusts and Estates Law Section Brown Bag Lunch met on October 15, 2019, to discuss recent events and related news in estates law.
The BBL began with a discussion about a guide published on the website of the Ministry of the Attorney General, which is focused on avoiding common errors in applying for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee. The guide contains useful tips such as keeping last names and occupations consistent throughout the application. The full guide, titled “Avoid Common Errors in Applying for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee”, can be found here.
Next, the group’s attention turned to a situation where a testator has died intestate, and his or her estate is insolvent. If the testator’s spouse is applying to be appointed as estate trustee without a will, and the value of the estate is less than the spouse’s preferential share, would the children of the testator still be considered to have a financial interest as intestate heirs? What impact would this have on whether an estate administration bond is required? The Toronto Estates Court has given some inconsistent feedback on this point, which resulted in an interesting discussion amongst BBLers.
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