Estate Law
Estate Law
Like most disputes that wind up before the courts, estate litigation can come with a hefty price tag. It’s one of the reasons Derfel Litigation Lawyers works with our clients to resolve matters as quickly as possible while keeping their desired outcomes and needs in mind. Often times in cases, one party can request costs…
Meeting with a lawyer to properly plan for the administration of your estate is critical in efforts to minimize estate litigation. Of course, it’s impossible to plan for every possible situation that may arise, but having a lawyer by your side can help in ensuring some of the common details people overlook are avoided. In a…
Like anyone else, lawyers can occasionally make mistakes. In a recent issue heard by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, a lawyer’s failure to register their client’s severance of joint tenancy in a matrimonial home before the client’s death was challenged by her common-law partner as reason enough to dismiss the severance. It was up…
COVID-19 has relaxed rules in a lot of ways for many things. The Canada Revenue Agency extended the tax filing deadline, most court proceedings were put on hold, and in many ways, life seemed to be on pause. However, as we can see in a recent decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, COVID-19 does not…
A common way for estate disputes to arise is when one person thinks they didn’t get what they thought they were getting, or perhaps what they feel they should receive, from an estate. Whether its money, property, or something else, there can be a lot of emotions following the death of a loved one and…
One of the most interesting aspects of common law, which is in place in Canada, is that the courts play a role in shaping law through their decisions. This means that courts can (and should) look back on prior decisions in order to shape their own. In an issue that recently ended up before the…
Many of our blogs around estate and will disputes deal with people looking to benefit from an estate after being left out as benefactors. But what happens when someone is gifted money in the form of a cheque but fails to cash it before the person who provided the gift dies. This was an issue…
There’s no doubt that social media platforms are becoming a larger part of everyday life for many Canadians. While users of social media have been quick to adapt to new platforms, other areas of life such as schools, government, and even the law, have had to face new challenges with how to govern or respond…
Being named the trustee of an estate might seem like a lot of responsibility, and that’s because it is. Trustees, as well as executors, attorneys for property, and guardians for property are responsible for fulfilling a number of obligations in carrying out the wishes of the person who died (the “testator”). These obligations include distributing…
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently addressed undue influence, and emphasized that a different test applies to establish undue influence in inter vivos transfers versus testamentary transfers. What Happened? The father had left his wife and three children in 1981, and the family remained estranged until 2002. In the meantime, the father met a woman in 1994, and they…