Wills, Trusts & Estates
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November 19, 2025
Liberal government unveils first budget bill, says criminal justice bill to come before Christmas
The Carney government’s 2025 legislative to-do list got longer with the rollout of its first budget implementation omnibus bill, which proposes dozens of tax and other statutory measures.
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November 19, 2025
Revocation of beneficiary designation: Avoiding miscalculations
There are times in estate law when the courts have to step in because beneficiary designations for registered plans aren’t drafted or updated properly. My July 18 article touched on a few such cases. Case law suggests that revoking one’s beneficiary designations may also require court intervention if not properly considered by the drafting lawyer.
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November 19, 2025
Cozen O’Connor adds estate counsel Alexander J. Swabuk
Cozen O’Connor LLP has welcomed Alexander J. Swabuk as estate and trust counsel in its Vancouver office.
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November 18, 2025
Proposed reforms of civil procedure: Refreshing reboot or more of the same?
I was an articling student and had my work cut out for me. I worked on a client file to prove adverse possession for a right of way across a house that had existed since the 50s but was being enforced by a neighbour. I brought all the files I had researched myself — surveys of the land, blueprints rolled up, ancient texts, photos I took of the property, transcripts of examinations.
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November 17, 2025
Sheri L. Woods joins Court of King’s Bench in Saskatchewan
Sheri L. Woods has been appointed a judge of the Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan in Prince Albert.
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November 14, 2025
The problem with ‘fairness’ in family business succession
“Being good is easy — What is difficult is being just.” ~ Victor Hugo
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November 13, 2025
The graduated rate estate: Using it, keeping it
The acronym “GRE” is well-known to trust and estate lawyers. However, while its descriptive meaning, graduated rate estate, may be well-known, its impact is perhaps less so.
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November 13, 2025
From isolation to injunction: Navigating the legal landscape of elder abuse in Ontario
Elder abuse is a critical and underreported public health crisis, significantly exacerbated by factors like social isolation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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November 12, 2025
SCC denies requests by AGs & others to make in-person intervener arguments in historic case
The Supreme Court of Canada is denying recent requests from six intervener attorneys general — as well as counsel for The Advocates’ Society and dozens of other intervener groups — to allow them to make their arguments in person in the upcoming historic Bill 21 appeal, Law360 Canada has learned.
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November 10, 2025
Judicial vacancies hit 5%, threatening more trial delays and backlogs
Ottawa is lagging again in filling the country’s federal benches, hitting a five per cent vacancy rate on Nov. 1, 2025 — mostly in the critical trial courts of Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, which are constitutionally obliged to conduct trials within a reasonable time or face the prospect of staying criminal cases.