The final Brown Bag Lunch meeting of the 2024-2025 OBA term was held on June 17, 2025. To kick off the meeting, one attendee shared with the other BBLers an issue they were dealing with involving the standard of care of an estate trustee in locating the issue of a deceased person who died intestate. The situation involved some complicated and interesting facts, including the deceased having moved internationally to Canada, given up a child to foster care who was never adopted such that the normal intestacy rules still applied, and the Public Guardian and Trustee’s involvement as guardian for the deceased prior to her death. Although this was a unique and difficult situation, participants offered suggestions for different avenues the attendee could pursue.
Next, BBLers had an interesting discussion about the various limitation periods applicable to solicitor’s negligence claims relating to estate planning and will drafting. Some attendees raised recent decisions applying the 15-year ultimate limitation period in one case, and another concluding that solicitor’s negligence is off the table if a certificate of appointment has been obtained.
One attendee shared their recent experiences in appointing trust companies as estate trustee and negotiating the standard clauses they seek to have incorporated in the Will. On a few occasions, the BBLer noted that they have had to push back against unreasonable terms, but were ultimately successful in doing so.
A couple of BBLers also shared some difficulties they have encountered dealing with financial institutions in order to pay expenses for an estate or a trust. In one case, the bank asked the lawyer who was also the trustee of an alter ego trust for supporting documents before releasing funds to pay expenses. In another, the bank froze the estate account even though probate had been obtained, resulting in a number of bounced cheques. Some attendees shared that they have had better experiences at certain banks over others.
Other brief questions were raised dealing with obtaining probate in Quebec via a notary and resealing in Ontario; participants’ experiences with s. 17(5) of the Estates Administration Act; whether pretaking compensation is only advisable where authorized by the Will or with the consent of the beneficiaries; and probate application processing times in different regions of Ontario.
The next Brown Bag Lunch meeting will be held on November 18, 2025, and the full schedule may be found here. If you would like to attend please register here or contact the moderator, Rebecca Kennedy, at rkennedy@agbllp.com for Zoom details.
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