Trusts and Estates Litigation - On the Docket

• Disappointed No Longer: Supreme Court Clarifies the Interplay between Insurance Act Beneficiary Designations and Unjust Enrichment

  Nina Bombier & Zachary Rosen

  Last Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada released its long-awaited decision in the case of Moore v Sweet, and settled a troubling issue in the trusts and estates world: the case of the disappointed life insurance beneficiary.

  November 27, 2018
  Nina Bombier

  Zachary Rosen
• Cowper-Smith v Morgan: The Supreme Court Renovates Proprietary Estoppel

  Anne E. Posno & Scott Rollwagen

  Lord Denning once said that estoppel is a house with many rooms. In December 2017, in Cowper-Smith v Morgan, 2017 SCC 61, the Supreme Court of Canada undertook some significant renovations to an important, but little used, room in that house: proprietary estoppel.  And just like your neighbour’s renovations to build their monster home can have a real impact on your property, this is a decision that has impacts well beyond the particular facts of that case.

  January 9, 2018
  Anne E. Posno

  Scott Rollwagen
• Court to estate litigants: Jurisdiction over real estate does not assure jurisdiction over all aspects of a case

  Jaclyn Greenberg & Jaclyn Greenberg

  Questions of jurisdiction and conflict of laws are complicated at the best of times, let alone in the context of estate litigation.

  April 29, 2015
• Racist Will Thrown Out for Being Contrary to Public Policy

  Anne E. Posno, Jaclyn Greenberg & Jaclyn Greenberg

  An Ontario decision has expanded the application of public policy to void a will, and in so doing has raised concerns of floodgates and abuse.  In Spence v. BMO Trust Company, 2015 ONSC 615, Justice Gilmore determined that the deceased, who was black, disinherited his adult daughter because she had a child with a Caucasian man – "a clearly stated racist principle".

  February 3, 2015
  Anne E. Posno