Law360 Canada ( June 25, 2024, 1:46 PM EDT) -- Application by Plaintiffs (“Parents”) for procedural orders seeking a stay of Petition in favour of the Notice of Civil Claim (“Action”) or a consolidation of the Petition with the Action. Application by Dhaliwal (“Reenu”) for order dismissing the Action. The deceased was survived by his Parents, the plaintiffs in the case. Before the deceased's death, he was in a romantic relationship with Reenu. The Parents filed an Action seeking declarations that Reenu was not the deceased's spouse and that the Parents were the intestate heirs of the deceased. Reenu opposed the Action and filed a Petition seeking declarations that she was the deceased's spouse and his sole intestate heir. The Parents submitted that the proper procedure to determine Reenu’s spousal status was through an Action because it would allow the parties to have a discovery process and the conflicting evidence between the parties would be determined by trial. The Parents argued that the Petition filed after the Action constituted an abuse of process. Reenu submitted that the Petition was the proper way to proceed with the matter because she needed to establish that she was the deceased's spouse. Further, she argued that the Parents filed the Action to delay her right to the determination of her spousal status. She maintained that there was no claim against her therefore the rules mandated a petition proceeding. She concluded that the Action was inappropriate and should be dismissed as an abuse of process....