Articles 2023

With the increase in housing prices, the announcement of the First Home Savings Account (“FHSA”) in 2023 was welcome news for many Canadians. In this article, Jennifer Corak, Michael Ding and Sanaya Mistry discuss some key questions related to the FHSA, including at a high level what it is, how it can be used and what happens if an individual dies holding an FHSA.

In this article, Krystyne Rusek, the OBA Trusts and Estates Law Section co-Technology Liaison for the 2023-2024 term, provides an update on technology in estates litigation. Specifically, she discusses the use of Calendly and CaseLines.

The first Ontario Estates Bench-Bar Liaison Committee meeting of 2024 was held on January 15th. Topics of discussion during this meeting included electronic filing of notices of objection, matters relating to applications for Certificates of Appointment, recent decisions related to changes to the Succession Law Reform Act, and more.

The April Brown Bag Lunch was held on April 16th and, as usual, members of the OBA Trusts and Estates Section gathered to discuss various issues that have come up in their practices recently (such as moral claims under section 5 of the Escheats Act, 2015 and timing for resignation and passing of accounts). The next Brown Bag Lunches will be held on May 21 and June 18, 2024. These will be the final two meetings for the 2023-2024 OBA term. Meetings will then resume in September.

A number of interesting discussions were had at the March 2024 Brown Bag Lunch. One topic of discussion was about the situation where there was no affidavit of execution and a deceased witness. Another discussion was about the situation where a witness to a codicil was a beneficiary of the Will, but not as a result of the codicil. If you would like to join the meetings please contact the moderator, Rebecca Kennedy, for Zoom details.

On February 20, 2024, OBA members met for the monthly Brown Bag Lunch. Attendees discussed the use of trusts for registered plans, issues relating to limited Wills, multiple Wills in separate jurisdictions, and the administration of a person’s estate where there are assets in multiple jurisdictions, and more.

In this article, Gosha Sekhon highlights takeaways from the Family Dynamics plenary of the OBA’s 2024 Ontario Legal Conference, reminding us to get context around a client’s instructions, that experiencing the death of a family member can be a form of trauma, that all human beings see the world through their own unique lens and being a lawyer does not change that, and more.

On January 17, 2024, the OBA’s Trust and Estates section hosted a panel of experts to discuss testamentary charitable giving. In this article, Rami Aziz discusses this program, starting with a discussion of gifts in kind and the importance of adequately investigating a testator’s assets, and then moving on to discuss strategies for drafting lawyers to minimize risk and considerations when the intention is for donations to be made after death.

On January 16, 2024, members of the Trusts and Estates Section kicked off the new year with another interesting Brown Bag Lunch meeting. They were provided with updates regarding the turnaround time for applications for a certificate of appointment, considered issues relating to trust planning, and discussed what happens when a residuary beneficiary disclaims their interest in an estate. The next two Brown Bag Lunch meetings will be held on March 19 and April 16, 2024.

Members of the Ontario Trusts and Estates bar showed up to the last Brown Bag Lunch of 2023 ready to discuss a variety of interesting topics and practice questions. Discussions centered around appointing a non-resident beneficiary as estate trustee without a Will, a complicated trust scenario and the decision of D’Onofrio v Riley (ONSC).