The Alberta Law Reform Institute (ALRI) issued its final report in January 2022, entitled "Family Maintenance & Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of Parent." The Report recommends that Alberta...more
Recent changes to the "Medical Assistance in Dying" (MAID) provisions in the Criminal Code, allow medical or nurse practitioners in Canada to provide MAID to patients who request assistance in dying, who later lose the...more
A person who challenges the validity of a will has the burden of rebutting the presumption that a will is valid. In Logan Estate (Re), 2021 ABCA 6, the challenger was unable to rebut this presumption due to the strength of...more
On May 15, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alberta introduced temporary legislative changes to allow for virtual signing and witnessing of Wills, Enduring Power of Attorneys and Personal Directives (Estate...more
Beginning in 2021, new reporting rules come into effect for most Canadian resident trusts. The rules are intended to improve the collection of beneficial ownership information with respect to trusts and to help the CRA assess...more
In the June 2020 case of Bergler v. Odenthal, 2020 BCCA 175 [Bergler], the British Columbia Court of Appeal found that deathbed wishes created a "secret trust", which required the surviving common law spouse to hold the...more
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 15, 2020, Doug Schweitzer, Q.C., Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of the Province of Alberta signed Ministerial Order M.O. 39/2020 which modifies current legislation on a...more
If you are a beneficiary in a will that contains a no-contest clause, and you don't like what the will directs, be careful before you question its validity. You just might lose everything....more