Estate Litigation

Predatory Marriages: The Growing Trend in Ontario

Elderly persons are living longer and as a result, a new litigation concern for the aging population has emerged: predatory marriages. Impacting wills and estates, and creating an emotionally stressful situation for family members, predatory marriages are a difficult situation...

By Merovitz Potechin on Friday October 11, 2019.

Introducing Medical Records in a Will Challenge

Can you use medical records to prove that a family member lacked mental capacity when they made their Will? In cases where a Will is being challenged on the basis that the will-maker lacked capacity, litigants will frequently attempt to...

By Merovitz Potechin on Thursday July 4, 2019.

Incapacity is Not Synonymous with Dementia

What is Capacity? A drafting wills lawyer is tasked with the role of carrying out a legal assessment of their client's capacity to make a will. In Ontario, to have capacity to make a will, one must have the ability...

By Merovitz Potechin on Thursday March 21, 2019.

Multiple Wills in Ontario: Re Milne Revisited

The Divisional Court recently allowed the appeal in the matter of Milne Estate (Re), 2019 ONSC 579, providing a sigh of relief for estate planning lawyers across the Province. The Milne case deals with the validity of multiple wills and...

By Yasmin M. Vinograd of Merovitz Potechin LLP on Thursday January 31, 2019.

Resealing of Foreign Orders Appointing Guardians

This blog was written in collaboration with David Morgan Smith at Hull and Hull LLP.  In some cases, an incapable person residing outside of Canada has assets in Canada. Can a guardian appointed outside of Canada have access to the...

By Yasmin M. Vinograd of Merovitz Potechin LLP on Thursday November 29, 2018.

What happens when people die without wills in place?

Despite many people claiming to be aware of the importance of proper estate planning, nearly half of Canadian adults report not having estate planning documents in place. Ontario adults who die without the appropriate wills and other important documents lined up will have...

By Merovitz Potechin on Tuesday September 11, 2018.