On April 25 I, along with many other members of the bar, attended the OBA Trusts & Estates Section’s Evening with Estate Judges program. As usual, the event was excellent and the Honourable Judges in attendance shared helpful advice and tips with the bar.
The panel was made up of the Honourable Justice Dietrich and the Honourable Justice Gilmore of the Toronto Estates List, and the Honourable Justice Fowler Byrne of the Central West Region.
Court Resources & Timing
Starting off with a topic that I expect every lawyer practicing in the area of trusts and estates was eager to hear about, Justice Dietrich gave us an update on the Estate Court’s resources. OBA members in attendance were happy to hear that the Honourable Justice Myers will be joining the Estates List as a fourth judge in the coming months (in addition to Justices Dietrich, Gilmore, and Sanfilippo who currently sit on the Estates List).
To address the backlog of probate applications, the Estates List has scheduled training sessions, hired more staff, and is doing overtime blitzes to get caught up. The aim is to be back on track by the end of May, after which the goal for turnaround time on probate applications will be in the 4-6 week range.
In Toronto, Justice Dietrich indicated that there is no preference between hardcopy or digital probate applications, although she did note that there may be a slight advantage to applications filed by email because remote staff are able to process those applications. In Central West, Justice Fowler Byrne shared that staff prefer hardcopy applications and are generally able to process them more quickly than email filings.
Please log in to read the full article.