Ontario Estates Bench-Bar Liaison Committee |
June 12, 20234:30 PMZoom |
Meeting called by: |
Justice Dietrich |
Type of meeting: |
Regularly scheduled quarterly meeting (third scheduled meeting of committee) |
Facilitator: |
Justice Dietrich, Chair |
Note taker: |
Haritha Popuri, Judicial Law Clerk |
Attendees: |
Mdm. Justice Dietrich (Chair) Mdm. Justice Fowler Byrne Laura Craig (Counsel, Office of the Chief Justice) Haritha Popuri (Judicial Law Clerk) Monica Simion (MAG – Manager, Court Operations) Nicole Fielding (CAMH Representative) Andrea M. Hill Marshall Swadron Kimberly A. Whaley Marni Whitaker Kathleen McDormand (OBA representative) Caroline Abela (The Advocates’ Society representative) Susan Stamm (Counsel, Office of the Children’s Lawyer) Michelle Chen (Manager, Civil Trial Office) Nicole Fielding Linda Omazic (Counsel, Court Services Division) Angelique Moss (OBA representative)
|
Regrets |
Mdm. Justice Wilson Mdm. Justice Sheard Mdm. Justice Woodley Debbie Dykstra (MAG – Supervisor, Court Operations) Susan Easterbrook Lou-Anne Farrell Ian Hull Kavina Nagrani (OBA representative) Alison Lester (Federation of Ontario Law Associations representative) Michele Warner (CAMH Representative) |
Minutes
1. |
Welcome |
Presenter: |
Justice Dietrich |
Justice Dietrich welcomed Committee members.
2. |
Approve Minutes |
Presenter: |
Justice Dietrich |
Discussion:
The minutes of the meeting held on April 3, 2023 were approved.
3. |
Review of Action items |
Presenter: |
Justice Dietrich/ Laura Craig |
Discussion
- Subcommittee on provincewide practice direction regarding estates (L. Craig)
The earliest date for the release of the provincewide practice direction would be this fall, following approval by the Regional Senior Judges Council. L. Craig will ask the trial coordinators in the regions to review it so that any procedural gaps can be filled by region-specific practice directions.
4. |
Other Business |
Presenter: |
Open |
Discussion:
- Filing of motions for directions
K. McDormand shared that there is confusion in the Ottawa SCJ about the process for filing motions for directions involving will challenges such as:
- a motion for directions cannot be filed at the civil counter, even though the motion is being brought after a notice of objection to a probate application was filed; and
- civil counter staff are advising that a motion for directions cannot be filed until an application is commenced.
Dietrich J., M. Chen, and L. Omazic explained that a new court file number is required for a motion for directions because probate applications are tracked in the court’s Estate System, whereas challenges to a will or to remove an estate trustee are litigation matters that are tracked in a different case-tracking system, the FRANK case-tracking system. File numbers starting with CV are issued from FRANK. Estate System numbers are limited to non-contentious probate matters. Once a file becomes contentious and an interested person seeks directions from the court, it switches to the litigation stream.
L. Omazic advised that the Estates Staff Procedures Manual was revised, on May 19, 2023, to clarify that a Motion for Directions under rule 75.06 can be commenced prior to the commencement of an application (in section 14) and to clarify processes relating to the assignment of civil court file numbers for estates motions and applications. She also shared that the draft consolidated SCJ Estates Provincial Practice Direction which under development by the Subcommittee contains terms that will provide guidance.
b. Electronic filing of a Notice of Objection
A question was raised about the electronic method to file a Notice of Objection by email rather than through the Civil Submissions Online system. It was explained that email filing of this document with the Estates Office is required because it ensures that it is recorded in the Estates System. This permits the necessary estate court record searches (clearance searches) to be conducted to determine whether a probate certificate can issue.