In Ogilvie Estate, the deceased was the father of six children (three of them minors) by five different women. Dependant support claims were made on behalf of two of the minor children. It was agreed that the deceased had failed to provide adequately for his minor children.

The issue before the court was whether a joint life insurance policy, issued to both the deceased and his spouse, could be included as part of the deceased’s estate under section 72(1) of the SLRA. The deceased and his spouse were both the owners and beneficiaries of the policy, which provided that the survivor of the two would receive the face amount of the policy on the death of the other. It was undisputed that the spouse had made the majority of the payments under the policy.

The applications judge held that the policy could be included as part of the estate. On appeal, a majority of the Divisional Court reversed this decision. The majority held that a jointly owned policy cannot be included as part of an estate merely because the deceased is one of the owners of the policy. The Court recognized that s. 72 of the SLRA was designed to counter the intentional depletion of an estate at the expense of dependants. However, there are transactions that “would be considered the normal personal commerce of an individual” and not necessarily undertaken to disenfranchise a dependant. In the case at hand, the majority ultimately decided that the contractual rights of the spouse to the joint policy trumped the needs of the deceased’s dependants.

Have a great day!
Bianca