Articles 2024

With the increase in housing prices, the announcement of the First Home Savings Account (“FHSA”) in 2023 was welcome news for many Canadians. In this article, Jennifer Corak, Michael Ding and Sanaya Mistry discuss some key questions related to the FHSA, including at a high level what it is, how it can be used and what happens if an individual dies holding an FHSA.

In this article, Krystyne Rusek, the OBA Trusts and Estates Law Section co-Technology Liaison for the 2023-2024 term, provides an update on technology in estates litigation. Specifically, she discusses the use of Calendly and CaseLines.

The article discusses the April 25, 2024 Child and Youth Law Section program titled, “Capacity and Consent by Children and Youth: Legal Standards and Best Practices."

The article discusses the Ontario Ombudsman's investigative report entitled "Rights Unrecognized: Mia's Story."

The decision in Canada v. Chad, saw Mr. Chad meet the “reasonable efforts” threshold when unsuccessfully obtaining information of non-residents. Consequently, the Court refused to grant a compliance order sought by the Minister. The decision is a study of the Income Tax Act compliance order process and a reminder of the limits of the CRA’s audit powers where taxpayers are unable to obtain the documents requested from others outside of Canada.

The April Brown Bag Lunch was held on April 16th and, as usual, members of the OBA Trusts and Estates Section gathered to discuss various issues that have come up in their practices recently (such as moral claims under section 5 of the Escheats Act, 2015 and timing for resignation and passing of accounts). The next Brown Bag Lunches will be held on May 21 and June 18, 2024. These will be the final two meetings for the 2023-2024 OBA term. Meetings will then resume in September.

A number of interesting discussions were had at the March 2024 Brown Bag Lunch. One topic of discussion was about the situation where there was no affidavit of execution and a deceased witness. Another discussion was about the situation where a witness to a codicil was a beneficiary of the Will, but not as a result of the codicil. If you would like to join the meetings please contact the moderator, Rebecca Kennedy, for Zoom details.

On February 20, 2024, OBA members met for the monthly Brown Bag Lunch. Attendees discussed the use of trusts for registered plans, issues relating to limited Wills, multiple Wills in separate jurisdictions, and the administration of a person’s estate where there are assets in multiple jurisdictions, and more.

After experiencing a cyber attack, organizations tend to keep a tight grip on incident-related information, often by asserting some sort of legal privilege. In LifeLabs LP v. Information and Privacy Commr. (Ontario), a panel of the Divisional Court of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice found that legal privileges asserted by LifeLabs did not apply to, among other things the forensic investigation report prepared by a third-party cybersecurity consultant.