Articles 2023

At the December Brown Bag Lunch meeting, OBA members gathered to discuss interesting practice questions, including participants’ views on mutual Will agreements, and the Court’s recent treatment of affidavits in support of a request to dispense with a bond.

As of January 30, 2023 a lawyer's certificate of service may be used as an alternate method of proof of service where service was effected by, or caused to be effected by the lawyer.

A proper estate plan is just as important for Millennial and Gen Z individuals as it is for older generations. However, Millennial and Gen Z clients may have unique estate planning considerations, including non-traditional assets such as cryptocurrency or collections. Some aspects of an individual’s relationships or sexuality may also require special attention in creating an estate plan. Demetre Vasilounis reviews some of these factors as discussed at a recent CPD program.

In this first of a series of interviews with our colleagues in the estates bar, we are getting to know a bit more about Doreen So, an estate litigator and partner at Hull & Hull LLP.

The Ontario Estates Bench-Bar Liaison Committee held their regularly scheduled quarterly meeting in October 2022. At this meeting, committee members considered various issues, including the next steps towards drafting a consolidated provincial practice direction for estates, possible amendments to the estates forms, and processing times for over-the-counter motions and applications for a certificate of appointment of estate trustee.

The recent decision in P.C.L., by her Litigation Guardians, E.C. et. al. v The Estate of B.L. et. al. considered in what circumstances a person will be found to have demonstrated a “settled intention” to treat an individual as a child, particularly in the context of a SLRA dependant’s support application. Notably, in this case, the court distinguished between an intention and a settled intention, and found on these particular facts that there was no settled intention.

During the Ontario Estates Bench-Bar Liaison Committee's June meeting, the committee discussed several matters of importance to the Estates Bar. Topics addressed included estate model orders, updates to the practice direction, and other ongoing discussion points.

In November, members of the Trusts and Estates Law Section gathered for the monthly Brown Bag Lunch. As always, attendees shared recent developments, and raised interesting practice questions. Topics discussed included a change to the practice direction for the Toronto Estates List, undertakings pursuant to s. 4(3) of the Estate Administration Tax Act, and how to deal with estate trustee compensation where there is tension with the beneficiaries.

At the October Brown Bag Lunch meeting, OBA Trusts and Estates Law Section members discussed a variety of interesting topics, including the Law Society of Ontario’s recent decision to terminate the Certified Specialist Program, holograph Wills, partial intestacies, and situations where most or all assets pass outside of the estate leaving insufficient assets to satisfy debts.

In a recent development, it is now possible to request to receive updated versions of the Estates Procedure Manual automatically. We encourage all estate practitioners to put themselves on this list, in order to ensure that they have the most up-to-date version of the Estates Procedure Manual.