A Reflection on the OBA’s Dinner with Senior Estate Planners

For the last two years, I have had the pleasure of attending the Dinner with Senior Estate Planners hosted by the OBA Trusts and Estates Law Section. This program grew out of a gap in estate planners' programming needs, as contrasted by the Judges Dinner that the OBA hosts every year, which is designed as a forum for estate litigators’ practice questions. Since its inception, the Senior Estate Planners dinner has provided a special opportunity for all members of the Trusts and Estates bar to hear from the most experienced members of the estate planning community about some of the trickier areas of practice.

This year, the esteemed panel consisted of Elena Hoffstein, Hilary Laidlaw, Margaret O'Sullivan and Timothy Youdan. Co-chairs Marni Pernica and Sara Beheshti posed several questions to the panel, and the attendees had the benefit of an initial response prepared by one of the panelists followed by a lively discussion between all of the panelists about their practice and opinion on the topic. The topics included: the definition (or interpretation) of “to or for the benefit of” in discretionary trusts; the new CRA trust disclosure requirements; managing joint retainers and conflicts of interest; and (everyone’s favourite topic) probate planning techniques.