Deadbeat

While social distancing remains in effect, everyday elements of our legal practice have become the most complicated. This article summarizes the guidelines available for virtual commissioning of affidavits and sets out a step-by-step process for putting virtual commissioning into practice, including the pros and cons of different methods, some stumbling blocks, and how to mitigate the associated risks.

This article is essential reading for those with matters before the Toronto Estates Court. The Estates List Users’ Committee (“ELUC”) is comprised of members of the Toronto Estates Court and various stakeholders, including representatives of the OBA Estates & Trusts executive, who meet regularly to discuss issues affecting the court. This article summarizes the direction given by the court at recent meetings regarding practice during the suspension of normal court operations.

Topics discussed at the February meeting included disclaimer provisions in mutual wills, tax treatment of attorney compensation, thorny issues facing the calculation of estate administration tax, and estate trustee liability in the face of an insufficient holdback, among others.

A summary of the topics discussed at the January meeting of the OBA's Brown Bag Lunch program, or "BBL." Discussion covered planning-related topics such as ODSP limits, lifetime benefit trusts, and the prudent investor rule, as well as litigation issues such as bank policies around multiple attorneys acting under a joint POA, and the court's process when a Notice of Objection to a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee has been filed.

A summary of December's Brown Bag lunch meeting of estates and trusts practitioners. Topics discussed included NoticeConnect’s Will registry and who can submit Wills to the registry, whether a drafting lawyer can still be sued in negligence if the impugned Will has been probated, probate for digital assets, and the fate of basket clauses.