Family
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July 23, 2025
Nunavut Indigenous still hampered by ‘Eurocentric’ family law: lawyer
Indigenous people caught in Nunavut’s family law system continue to face child welfare challenges due to a conflict between their need for community-based solutions and the justice system’s “westernized” notions of what constitutes family. So says Ontario lawyer Andrea Clarke, who recently hosted an online lecture for the Law Society of Nunavut.
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July 22, 2025
Federal Court affirms Ottawa can temporarily bar sex offenders from sponsoring immigrants
The Federal Court has affirmed that Ottawa acted within its scope of authority, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), when it issued a temporary regulatory ban on immigration sponsorship applications from Canadians or permanent residents convicted of sex crimes.
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July 22, 2025
Ontario court clarifies parental consent rules under child abduction convention
Ontario’s top court has clarified what it means for a parent to “consent” or “acquiesce” to a child’s retention in a foreign country under an international convention on child abduction that has been incorporated into provincial family law.
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July 22, 2025
Finality over fairness: A cautionary tale in will drafting, limitation periods
The Ontario Superior Court’s decision in Tessaro v. Gora, 2025 ONSC 198 quietly answered a long-standing question among estate planners: what happens when a decades-old drafting error is unexpectedly discovered? In answering this question, Justice Fred Myers not only clarified the legal consequences of such an error but also reiterated the importance of diligent drafting in estate planning.
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July 21, 2025
B.C. Court of Appeal upholds executor removal despite procedural challenge
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has largely upheld a lower court’s decision to remove an executor from his mother’s estate, rejecting his claim that property transfers to himself and his brother were legitimate distributions rather than improper self-dealing.
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July 21, 2025
Navigating AI in legal practice: Responsibilities, risks and realities, part three
So far in this series of articles, we’ve covered some of the risks that arise when lawyers use AI. These include more general justice and institution-wide concerns like bias, as well as more specific fears about how AI-generated “hallucinations” in client documents and court-filed materials can impede justice.
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July 18, 2025
Registered accounts: Designating beneficiaries
Individuals in Ontario may designate beneficiaries for their registered accounts — such as TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and FHSAs (see Part III of the Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 (SLRA)). This designation ensures that, upon the account holder’s death, the proceeds are paid directly to the named beneficiary, thereby bypassing the estate. This not only avoids estate administration tax on those funds, but also often allows for a quicker distribution to the designated beneficiaries as well as regarding RRSPs and RIFFs creditor protection.
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July 18, 2025
Navigating AI in legal practice: Responsibilities, risks and realities, part two
We all know that AI has many upsides, and it’s taking the legal profession by storm. We also know that it must be used with caution. In the first segment of this three-part series, we took a look at some key initial concerns that can arise in connection with lawyers’ use of AI in their legal practices. These touched on legal ethics and potential bias, and how using AI can impact a lawyer’s professional responsibility obligations.
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July 18, 2025
Relational vs. transactional: Why Canada continues to fail at implementing Indigenous rights
There is a fundamental difference in worldview that continues to undermine the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Crown in Canada — a difference that can be summarized as relational versus transactional. This tension lies at the heart of the ongoing failure to fully implement treaties, recognize Indigenous legal orders, or give meaningful effect to constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights.
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July 17, 2025
Wide-open-door policy ‘is not how we roll,’ Federal Court of Appeal judge tells would-be interveners
The Federal Court of Appeal’s senior puisne judge says those applying to intervene at the national intermediate appellate court should ask themselves whether their presence “will advance our work.”