Articles 2021

Section 21.1 of the Ontario Succession Law Reform Act (“SLRA”) provides a validating power to judges of the Superior Court to remedy situations where testamentary documents fail to meet formalities of execution. In this article, Krystyne Rusek and Matthew Bradley canvas some of the case law to date on the Court’s validating power under s. 21.1.

In May 2022, further to recommendations by the Competence Task Force of the Law Society of Ontario, Convocation voted to wind up its Certified Specialist Program (“CSP”). Following feedback from the profession with respect to its decision, Convocation suspended the CSP windup and instead committed to a consultation with the profession on the issue. Demetre Vasilounis provides an update on the OBA’s submissions in this article.

Jackson v Rosenberg, a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, reminds us of the complications that can arise when adding an adult as joint tenant on property for probate planning purposes. In this article, Jennifer Corak reviews the Court’s considerations and conclusions.

The warm and long summer days brought with them changes to the Ontario court forms for applications for appointment of estate trustee under the Rules of Civil Procedure. In this article, Lori Isaj and Sanaya Mistry review changes to Forms 74A, 74.1A and 74J.

On June 26, 2023, Howard Black was presented with the OBA Award of Excellence in Trusts and Estates for 2023. For anyone who may have missed this wonderful event, or for those who want to experience it again, Howard has kindly agreed to share a copy of his speech. Many congratulations to the very deserving Howard Black.

Your Public Affairs Liaisons, Krystyne Rusek and Angelique Moss, have been hard at work bringing issues of legislative change and public affairs affecting the estates bar to the attention of our Executive and to our members. Further to the previous update provided in March, Krystyne and Angelique provide an additional update summarizing recent matters.

Although we are only halfway through 2023, there have been plenty of interesting trusts and estates decisions that have been released so far this year. In this article, Garrett Horrocks reviews several of the top cases from the first half of 2023.

As part of a series of Q&As, in this article Sanaya Mistry interviews Lucy Main and Lori Isaj of WeirFoulds LLP about their experiences in their estate planning practices.

Although the advent of virtual hearings has brought with it many advantages, it has also led to some confusion given differences in the presumptive mode of appearance in different courts. The OBA has created a helpful chart to assist in determining the mode of hearing.

The final Brown Bag Lunch of the OBA’s 2022-2023 term was held on June 20. As always, attendees came ready to share their wisdom and practice tips with others, including on the topics of estate planning for the family cottage, filing procedures for applications to prove a lost Will, and options to avoid probate.