Wills, Trusts & Estates

  • December 03, 2025

    Navigating continuing powers of attorney for property: Key dos and don’ts

    In estate law, when a grantor becomes mentally incapable, a continuing power of attorney for property is the estate planning tool that enables a person (i.e., the attorney) to step into the shoes of the grantor and do everything the grantor could lawfully do, except make a will. An attorney for property owes a fiduciary duty to the grantor and must always act in his or her best interests.

  • December 03, 2025

    Success rate for injured applicants at Licence Appeal Tribunal continues to plummet

    As a new associate chair with significant political connections is poised to take over, the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) is facing criticism over the plummeting success rate for people injured in auto accidents who are appealing decisions by insurance companies — a success rate that has dropped precipitously to only eight per cent.

  • November 27, 2025

    Christina Kim joins Robins Appleby LLP’s wills and estates team

    Robins Appleby LLP has announced that Christina Kim has been added as an associate to its wills and estates group.

  • November 27, 2025

    Law360 Canada Pulse survey 2025: AI sparks debate on legal industry's future

    Canadian lawyers are somewhat split on the impact artificial intelligence will have on their industry, a new Law360 Canada survey shows. According to the 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey — which marks Law360 Canada’s third deep dive into the feelings and thoughts that legal professionals have about their jobs — nearly half of respondents agreed that both the pros and cons of AI are sizable.

  • November 26, 2025

    Law360 Canada Pulse survey 2025: what lawyers really think about their profession

    Find out what lawyers really think about their profession in Law360 Canada Pulse’s Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.

  • November 25, 2025

    Law360 Canada Pulse survey 2025: lawyers grapple with stress amid financial strain, long hours

    The legal profession is going through seismic change as it grapples with things like artificial intelligence, but one issue that has been around for centuries still remains — stress. According to the 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey — which marks Law360 Canada’s third deep dive into the feelings and thoughts that legal professionals have about their jobs — 85 per cent of associates say they are at least sometimes stressed by their finances, along with 77 per cent of those at small firms.

  • November 24, 2025

    Law360 Canada Pulse survey 2025: nearly two-thirds of lawyers satisfied with jobs, but concerns remain

    A recent survey of the legal profession is showing high marks on issues like job satisfaction and compensation. According to the 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey — which marks Law360 Canada’s third deep dive into the feelings and thoughts that legal professionals have about their jobs — 63 per cent of respondents report being satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs overall, up from 60 per cent last year.

  • November 21, 2025

    Federal judges say they’ll take Ottawa to court over rejection of independent pay commission’s recommendations

    The association representing Canada’s federally appointed judges decided this week to seek judicial review of Ottawa’s rejection of an independent judicial pay commission’s two key recommendations — including the commission’s advice that a $28,000 salary boost (on top of mandatory annual indexing) is necessary to keep attracting outstanding lawyers to the bench.

  • November 21, 2025

    New Brunswick Court of Appeal confirms modern approach to the ‘armchair rule’

    In Canada, there is somewhat of a divide when it comes to the armchair rule. When interpreting a will in some provinces, including Ontario and Manitoba, it is now the norm for courts to apply the armchair rule at the outset, even if a will is not patently ambiguous, and consider surrounding circumstances that existed when the will was made. Interpreting a will this way is often referred to as the modern approach to the armchair rule.

  • November 21, 2025

    Federal Budget 2025: Impact on charities and not-for-profits

    On Nov. 4, the federal government tabled the federal budget (Budget 2025), which includes several legislative proposals relevant to charities and not-for-profits (NFPs). Many of these proposals were contained in government releases throughout August 2024, December 2024, January 2025 and August 2025, though Budget 2025 did not explain any specifics of those proposals.