Disclosure of Vancouver Estate Lawyer’s Privileged File Ordered
Property disputes and will challenges are often centred around determining the intention of a person who is now deceased or who has become incapacitated due to a…
Court Affirms Test for Testamentary Capacity in BC Will Challenge
In a 2017 BC will challenge, the court affirmed testamentary capacity is not the same thing as the capacity to manage one’s property or the capacity to…
Equal Treatment Not Always Required When Dividing an Estate in BC
When dividing an estate in BC, equal treatment of a will-maker’s children is not required to make adequate, fair and equitable provision. In a previous blog, we…
Son’s Vancouver Estate Law Claim Denied due to Benefits Received Through the Years
In a recent Vancouver estate law matter, Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154, a son claimed that he should receive $400,000 from his parents’ estate to compensate…
Vancouver Estate Lawyers Discuss Competing Claims to Insurance Proceeds
In some cases, the deceased’s estate has no significant assets and the real contest centres on entitlement to insurance proceeds. In a recent post, our Vancouver estate…
Competing Claims of a Second Spouse to Life Insurance Proceeds
The Supreme Court of Canada was recently asked to weigh the competing claims of a second spouse and a first spouse to the proceeds of a life…
Long-Term Second Spouse’s Successful Wills Variation Claim
In Ciarniello v. Ciarniello Estate, 2016 BCSC 1699, the British Columbia court was asked to decide a wills variation claim brought by a long-term second spouse who…
Who Pays the Costs of Vancouver Estate Litigation?
At the close of a Vancouver estate litigation matter, are costs paid out of the estate or is unsuccessful party personally liable for those costs? The answer…
BC Estate Litigation Determines Authenticity of Handwritten Change to Will
Can a handwritten document purporting to change a will be given legal effect via BC estate litigation? Section 58 of WESA is a broad curative provision. It provides the court with the discretion to validate a document which has not been made in compliance with the formalities of will-making and allow it to be admitted to probate, if satisfied that the document “represents the testamentary intentions of the will-maker.”
Changing a Will in BC: Beneficiary Disinherited by White-Out
There are specific requirements for changing a will in BC after it has been made, just as there are specific requirements for making a will in the…