Wills, Trusts & Estates
-
August 21, 2024
The succession rights of unborn children: Future heirs
An unborn child has for many purposes been recognised and accorded varying degrees of protection by the law. This article begins our discussion of the legal succession rights of an unborn child.
-
August 21, 2024
EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS — Accounts and passing of accounts — Review by judge in chambers
Appeal by respondent Executor from Court of King’s Bench judge’s dismissal of his appeal from passing of accounts order. He challenged the amount fixed for executor compensation, the award of solicitor and client costs against him and the impartiality and independence of the King’s Bench judge. The respondent was the executor of the deceased’s estate for just over eight years before disputes with the applicants over executor compensation and delay in the administration of the estate resulted in litigation.
-
August 19, 2024
Federal Court finds Toronto gallery infringed on copyright over famous photographer’s works
The Federal Court has found some instances of copyright infringement on the part of a Toronto-based gallery related to 97 works by celebrated American street photographer Vivian Maier.
-
August 16, 2024
Surrendering U.S. citizenship: How it can help, how it can hurt
U.S. citizenship is a privilege for many, but it can also be a burdensome and unwanted obligation for others.
-
August 13, 2024
New partner joins Linmac LLP
A recent news release from Linmac LLP announced that Nadia Bechai has joined the firm’s Toronto office as a partner in its wills, estates and trusts group.
-
August 13, 2024
Estate and third-party claims in accidental drowning
It bears remembering, as we settle into the latter half of the summer months, that there are risks associated with the water-related activities that attract many of us at this time of year. Whether swimming, boating or floating, the majority of drownings occur in lakes, ponds and rivers while the victim is not wearing a personal flotation device. The risks are especially heightened when one is a weak or non-swimmer and alone.
-
August 09, 2024
Canada sanctions Belarusian judges complicit in Lukashenko regime’s jailing of political prisoners
Canada and its allies have imposed asset freezes and immigration bans on certain Belarusian judges and others who facilitate repression and violations of human rights in their country, including jailing hundreds of political prisoners at the behest of President Alexander Lukashenko’s illegitimate regime.
-
July 31, 2024
AMPs for securities fraud can be debts released by bankruptcy discharge: SCC
Settling conflicting appellate case law over whether the exemption in s. 178(1)(e) of the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act enables administrative money penalties (AMPs) and disgorgement orders imposed by a provincial securities regulator to survive a bankruptcy discharge, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 5-2 that $13.5 million in AMPs imposed by the BC Securities Commission on two undischarged bankrupts for fraudulent securities activity is a debt that can be released by a future discharge in bankruptcy. But it ruled unanimously in addition that approximately $5.6 million in related disgorgement orders would survive any discharge from bankruptcy the pair might obtain in future.
-
July 30, 2024
Counsel contend Ottawa’s spate of judicial appointments might make novel constitutional appeal moot
Lawyers who won a groundbreaking Federal Court declaration that recognized a “constitutional convention that judicial vacancies on the provincial superior courts and federal courts must be filled within a reasonable time” contend Ottawa’s appeal should be dismissed as moot if the Trudeau government gets federal judicial vacancies down to the reasonable level set by Federal Court Justice Henry Brown last February.
-
July 30, 2024
Beneficiary attempts to prove lost will based on copy
The Superior Court of Justice for Ontario was recently asked to determine whether a copy of a testamentary document is able to meet the requirements for proving a lost will.