Law360 Canada ( February 2, 2026, 9:37 AM EST) -- Appeal by appellant from an order dismissing her claim to vary her father’s will for want of prosecution and application to adduce new evidence on appeal. The appellant’s father died in August 2016, leaving three children and a will dividing the residue of his estate equally among them. Five days before his death, he transferred ownership of three condominiums to two of his children, Colleen and Brian. The appellant filed a notice of civil claim in British Columbia in June 2017 seeking to vary the will, alleging the transfers resulted in an inequitable distribution. In 2018, she commenced a separate Alberta action challenging the validity of the transfers, which was ultimately dismissed as an abuse of process. The appellant took no steps to advance the British Columbia action for over seven years. In November 2024, Colleen applied to dismiss the action for want of prosecution. The chambers judge found the delay inordinate, rejected the appellant’s reliance on legal advice and health issues as excuses, and concluded the interests of justice favoured dismissal, citing hardship to Colleen and Brian, depletion of the estate by legal fees, and perceived lack of merit in the claim. On appeal, the appellant argued the judge erred in failing to treat her reliance on legal advice as an excuse for the delay and in not considering the absence of prejudice to the defendants’ ability to defend the action in addressing the interests of justice. She also sought to introduce new evidence of Colleen’s conduct after judgment, claiming it was relevant to Colleen’s argument about distress in communicating with the appellant....