At the recent OBA’s CPD Essential Updates on Court Processes for Estate Litigators, new rule 6.1.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure was reviewed, together with relevant case law and the potential application of bifurcation to estate matters.
Bifurcation is a tool that has been available to litigators for decades, pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of the court, with case law (and in some cases, statute) prescribing the factors to be considered by the court when evaluating the potential bifurcation of a hearing.[1] Bifurcation was often sought in personal injury matters, to allow the issue of liability to be determined in advance of quantum of damages.[2] Bifurcation was also seen in family law proceedings, in which entitlement to support or equalization could be severed from the complex calculations required to determine the amount of support and equalization of net family property.[3]
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