A Suicide Note as a valid Holograph Will – ONCA decision on Testamentary Capacity and Costs in Estate Litigation By: Mitchell J. Rattner The Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) recently released a decision (McGrath v. Joy, 2022 ONCA 119) which dealt with the issue of testamentary capacity of a person who suffered from alcohol […]
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 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 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 […]
by Robin Spurr, Published: November 06, 2015 Scalia v. Scalia is a Court of Appeal decision, which provides guidance for Power of Attorney disputes, specifically the scope of the attorney for property’s authority with respect to joint assets, as well as the cost consequences for an unreasonable attorney for property. This was an appeal involving a dispute […]