Wills, Trusts & Estates
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March 21, 2024
Ottawa cuts back on temporary foreign workers; reduces permitted percentage of ‘low wage’ workers
The federal government has announced it is “adjusting” its temporary foreign worker program which has experienced “a surge in demand” due to the post-pandemic economy, low unemployment rates, and record-high job vacancy rates in 2022.
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March 21, 2024
Electoral reform bill targets dark money, foreign interference, deep fakes, other AI misinformation
Ottawa’s proposed overhaul of the Canada Elections Act includes new false and misleading speech offences and administrative monetary penalties (AMPs); new and expanded prohibitions targeting foreign interference and the misuse of AI and deep fakes to fuel disinformation and voter suppression; and new third-party contribution rules the federal government says will “increase transparency and mitigate dark or foreign funds in Canada’s election system.”
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March 21, 2024
Limits of testamentary freedom
Spence v. BMO Trust Company, 2016 ONCA 196, is a topical case which has featured in our articles as recently as January 2023. This case serves as a reminder that testamentary freedom — a will-maker’s right to dispose of his or her property as he or she sees fit — is not without limit.
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March 21, 2024
Politicization of tribunal appointments worse than that of judicial appointments | Brian Cook
Recent moves by the current government to politicize the process of appointing judges have caused significant concern. The process for appointing adjudicators who sit on Ontario’s adjudicative tribunals is much worse. The government has been criticized for making political appointments to the committee responsible for making judicial appointment recommendations. There is no such committee, and virtually no other form of oversight for appointments to adjudicative tribunals.
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March 19, 2024
Ottawa appeals declaration of constitutional requirement for timely federal judicial appointments
“Stay in your lane” — those words might encapsulate the thrust of the federal government’s message to the Federal Court in Ottawa's appeal of a recent groundbreaking judgment, which declared that the prime minister and federal justice minister are constitutionally obliged to fix the lengthy federal judicial appointment delays that have for years bedeviled litigants, lawyers and judges.
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March 18, 2024
Fiduciary accounting for Ontario trustees: Guide for executors, attorneys for property
The duty to account refers to the obligation of persons acting in a fiduciary capacity, such as a trustee, executor or attorney or guardian for property, to keep records of the assets and liabilities they are managing on behalf of others and be able to accurately report their activities and results when required. The obligation first arose from equity and common law.
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March 15, 2024
Supreme Court rules limited statutory rights of appeal do not preclude access to judicial review
In a 9-0 judgment supportive of litigants’ access to judicial review, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a limited statutory right of appeal in a case does not preclude judicial review for matters not the subject of appeal, i.e. where there is an appeal right limited to questions of law, judicial review is available for questions of fact or mixed fact and law.
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March 12, 2024
Jan. 1, 2026: U.S. estate tax heading toward a cliff
There is increasing uncertainty about the future of U.S. estate tax. On the one hand, under U.S. legislation that temporarily halved the lifetime exemption amount passed during the Trump administration, the lifetime exclusion amount is set to decrease on Jan. 1, 2026, to US$5 million adjusted for inflation since 2011, unless legislation is passed by Congress.
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March 08, 2024
Wills, Trusts, & Estates - CIVIL PROCEDURE - Disposition without trial - Dismissal of action - Application to set aside
Appeal by appellant of the Chambers judge’s decision dismissing Estate’s application to set aside a default judgment.
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March 07, 2024
Modernizing national security laws could also clarify threshold to invoke Emergencies Act: LeBlanc
Ottawa is considering reforming the threshold for invoking the federal Emergencies Act, as part of a broader “more holistic review of national security legislation,” with the Liberal government committed to introducing amendments to “modernize” the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Act, the Security of Information Act, and the Criminal Code “in the coming months,” says Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.