Gordon Behan and Sam Shury Published in The Lawyer’s Daily
A recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision has given greater clarity to how the courts treat a will-maker’s knowledge of his or her assets. It ... Continued
Deliberate Alterations to a Will: Levesque Estate (Re), 2019 BCSC 927
A recent decision shows how the Court may find a will-maker’s handwritten changes to be legally effective. Whiting a Beneficiary Out of a Will In ... Continued
Case Comment – Gully v Gully: Giving a Gift of Joint Tenancy Can Come Back to Bite the Donor
The case of Gully v Gully, 2018 BCSC 1590 provides useful insight on a peril of putting property into joint tenancy. The decision illustrates the ... Continued
Bouchard v. Bouchard – The Intersection of Estate Law and Family Law
The recent decent of Justice Donegan in Bouchard v. Bouchard, 2018 BCSC 1728, shows the importance of attending to the procedural and substantive law of ... Continued
Various Definitions of “Spouse”
Historically, spouses were those that had undergone a formal marriage ceremony before a religious or secular authority. We now live in a world where the ... Continued
Canadian Courts Espouse Different Tests For Recognizing Spouses
Under B.C.’s Wills Estate and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 (“WESA”), a spouse has an interest in a deceased’s estate if the deceased dies ... Continued
The Third Party Beneficiary Rule: Claims By Disappointed Beneficiaries Against A Solicitor
Generally, a solicitor who accepts instructions to draft a will owes a legal duty of care to an intended beneficiary under that will. This duty ... Continued
Suspicious Circumstances – Bhalla Estate, 2017 BCSC 1867
In British Columbia, there are three requirements for making a valid will: the will must be validly executed in accordance with requirements set out in ... Continued
Can an Executor be Held Liable For Not Following the Burial Wishes of a Deceased Person?
The Duty To Follow The Wishes of The Deceased and “CIFSA” Upon the death of an individual in British Columbia, unlike other Canadian jurisdictions, there ... Continued
Private Company Tax Proposals: Consequences for Trusts and Estates
Our prior posts in this series gave an overview of the government’s consultation paper, and outlined the paper’s proposals to limit the lifetime capital gains ... Continued
Is a child born out of wedlock entitled to inherit under British Columbia succession law?
Since 1927, legislation in British Columbia had provided that in cases of intestacy, children born out of wedlock would inherit on the same basis as ... Continued
Tax issues in estate planning
Lawyers practicing in will and estate planning benefit from also having an understanding of basic tax considerations in order to prepare an effective plan, administer ... Continued