Our  Experience

The following is a short summary of some of our key estate planning and administration cases.

• Administered an estate in excess of 14 million dollars which held, in addition to numerous assets, several limited companies and numerous parcels of real estate.
• Located a beneficiary named in a will in Vienna - surviving Canadian members of family had never been to Vienna and had never met named beneficiary.
• Located numerous assets, in several files, which were unknown to Estate Trustees and family members of deceased.
• Prepared detailed accounting in estate files for the purpose of Passing of Accounts.
• Represented Solicitors from England on contentious issue with respect to Powers of Attorney granted in Ontario to person in England.
• Trustee of estate willing to accept $10,000 offered by automobile insurance company. Conducted negotiations with automobile insurance company and obtained payment to deceased teenage child in the amount of $97,000.
• Retained by U.S. law firm and obtained Certificate of Ancillary Appointment of Estate Trustee with a Will and effected transfer of Ontario real estate property to U.S. beneficiary.
• Obtained Certificates of Appointment of Estate Trustee of Holograph Wills where deceased had left handwritten notes which the beneficiaries did not realize were valid wills.
• Obtained Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee during litigation.
• Applied to the Court and proved Will in Solemn Form, where only a photocopy of the will could be located.
• Obtained appointment of guardians for children under the Children's Law Reform Act.
• Obtained appointment of guardians for mentally incompetent adults under the Substitute Decisions Act.
• Successfully negotiated a settlement that provided the same sex partner of deceased with a significant portion of the estate, even though the deceased died without a will and the same sex partner was not legally recognized as having a claim to a share in the estate. Involved a constitutional challenge to the definition of "spouse" under Ontario's Family Law Act and Succession law Reform Act.
• Litigated against an estate for support on behalf of the common law spouse of the deceased.
• Litigated against an estate for support on behalf of a child of the deceased.
• Estate litigation action against estate and life insurer for support of defendant (dependent) minor.
• Successfully represented child of deceased in claim against insurer refusing to pay proceeds pursuant to a life insurance policy.