Toronto Estate Lawyer : Hull & Hull Law Firm : Trust Mediation and Succession Planning : Serving Ontario, Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton

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There are several interesting OBA continuing legal education (CLE) events in the Trusts & Estates Section in the next two weeks.

One is a luncheon program on March 25, 2008 commencing at noon addressing the topic of Power of Attorney Fraud. This program promises to discuss this escalating problem, some recent developments in criminal fraud proceedings, and how careful and creative planning with respect to Power of Attorney documents can help avoid family conflicts as well as costly and senseless litigation.

The speakers and panel slated include several lawyers, a forensic accountant and a detective from the Hamilton Police Service, Crimes Against Seniors Unit.

The other event is a half day program on April 2, 2008 commencing at 9:00 a.m. This program looks at the latest trends which counsel are seeing in the areas of estate planning, administration, litigation, and passing of accounts as well as trust and charity law.

Topics include: The Future of Mediation: Thinking Outside the Box, The Liability of the Passive Estate Trustee – The Hidden Danger, The Limits and Limitations to a Beneficiary’s Recourse Before and After a Judgment Passing Accounts, Developments in Estate Planning, Guardianships and Settlements of Personal Injury Litigation, View from the Bench and Emerging Trends Outside Toronto.

The Chairs of this program are Justin de Vries and Eric Hoffstein.

Both programs are being held at the OBA Conference Centre, 20 Toronto Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto. Information on each program can be found on the OBA’s website www.oba.org/.

Have a great day.

Craig.

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The Globe and Mail recently interviewed a man living in British Columbia who may be the son of John F. Kennedy.

The article made me reflect on the different ways solicitors deal with persons born outside of marriage when drafting a Will. Since March 1978, persons born inside of marriage and outside of marriage are entitled to share equally in an intestacy estate. In a testate administration, unless a contrary intention is included in the Will, any words identifying a class of persons such as “issue” and “children” includes persons born outside of marriage.

However, a testator may want to exclude persons born outside of marriage from being considered as part of a gift class in order to remove the obligation on an executor to search for members of the gift class who were born outside of marriage.

Given the prevalence of common law relationships, to include a boilerplate clause excluding persons born outside of marriage from inclusion in the gift class may result in the unintentional disinheritance of grandchildren or great-grandchildren.  Any exclusion clause has to be considered carefully.

The upcoming LSUC CLE program, The Annotated Will, being held on February 21, 2008, discusses how to deal with difficult drafting issues. The two hour program is being chaired by Laura Kerr, Jennifer A. Pfuetzner, and Corina S. Weigl and promises to offer valuable advice on avoiding common drafting errors.

Have a nice day,

Diane Vieira