Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin is suing his two children and his business manager for improperly taking control of his finances, using his funds for their own benefit, and defaming him by stating publicly that he suffers from dementia. This lawsuit was brought in response to a guardianship application commenced by Aldrin’s two children. Regardless […]
by Robin Spurr The recent case of Newlands Estate v. Newlands Estate highlights the need for proportionality in litigation, and the expensive consequences if you are not. The case centred around a painting that belonged to the father, which all the parties agreed was worth $30,000. $30,000 is nothing to sneeze at, but when it comes to litigation […]
by Lisa Fenech If a friend gave you a cheque and later passed away before you had the opportunity to cash that cheque, would you feel entitled to the amount that the cheque provided for? In Teixeira v. Markgraf Estate the Court of Appeal for Ontario makes it very clear that you have no right to that amount. […]
by Mitchell Rattner Last November was the Ontario Bar Association’s “Make a Will Month”, and I spoke at Barbara Frum Library about the benefits of having a will. While a will is an important and effective tool for directing how your property is to be distributed following your death, powers of attorney enable you to authorize […]
by Robin Spurr One of the questions we hear most often as estate litigators is “will I get my legal costs back?”. It is very common in litigation for one party or both parties to feel that the litigation would have been unnecessary but for the actions of the other party, and at the end of […]
by Matthew Rendely On Monday, May 1, 2017, the Honourable Douglas K. Gray of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario held in the case of Henry Koziarski, as Estate Trustee of the Estate of Jadwiga Koziarski v Jesse Sullivan, 2017 ONSC 2704, that Jesse Sullivan (“Jesse”) did not fall under the class of “issue” as defined in […]
by Rob Levesque The recent case of Chuvalo v. Chuvalo, 2018 ONSC 311, involved an application by George Chuvalo, the famous Candian boxer, to divorce his wife. After the proceedings had been commenced, Mr. Chuvalo, who suffers from cognitive impariment, was found to be incapable of instructing his lawyers. Subsequently, Mr. Chuvalo decided that he wanted to get back […]
by Robin Spurr We are very pleased to announce that Schnurr Kirsh Oelbaum Tator LLP has once again been recognized as one of the Top 5 Wills, Trusts and Estates boutiques in Canada. We appreciate the ongoing support of our peers in the legal community across Canada, and look forward to continuing to serve our clients […]
by Robin Spurr Robin Spurr recently presented at the Ontario Bar Association’s program entitled “Managing Family Conflicts in Estate Administration”. The following is Robin’s commentary on the mutual will doctrine and how it was applied in two recent decisions; Rammage v. Roussel Estate and Lavoie v. Trudel. The doctrine of mutual wills is not widely understood and is often […]
by Rob Levesque It is well-settled that in estate litigation the unsuccessful party must generally pay some of the successful party’s costs – this is often referred to as the “loser pays principle”. Importantly however, the loser pays principle is subject to certain exceptions that are unique to estate litigation. For instance, where there is a […]