Wednesday, November 11, 2020 @ 2:05 PM
Estate tech alignment: How IT alignment model works
The estate management requirements of our clients’ growing portfolio of digital assets is an emerging area for the estate industry and estate practitioners. The goal of this series of articles is to provide context on how the estate industry could approach a client’s digital estate from a business enterprise perspective and a framework of how to execute. ... [read more]
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 @ 2:52 PM
Family cottage: How can trusts protect heirs from matrimonial claims?
“Marriage is the agreement to let a family happen.” ... [read more]
Friday, November 06, 2020 @ 8:25 AM
Don’t count on ‘zombie deeds’ in estate planning: Part two
As we stated in part one of this series, the court in Thompson v. Elliott Estate 2020 ONSC 1822 chastised the actions of the lawyer who registered the transfer of the deed of Alitha Elizabeth Elliott on April 18, 2017. Elliott died three days earlier on April 15. In making required statements in the transfer on behalf of Elliott on her age and spousal status, the court stated that the lawyer “knew or ought to have known that this was clearly not the case” and that if Elliott’s death had been known by the Land Registry Office, “severance of the joint tenancy would have been properly rejected.” ... [read more]
Thursday, November 05, 2020 @ 12:40 PM
Why paralegals are force behind innovation in law firms
Paralegals are already a vital resource to law firms, but with the onslaught of tools on the market that help automate the more mundane and repetitive parts of their work, they are about to become much more valuable. ... [read more]
Wednesday, November 04, 2020 @ 8:23 AM
Don’t count on ‘zombie deeds’ in estate planning: Part one
Alitha Elizabeth Elliott transferred her house on April 18, 2017. There was only one problem: Elliott was dead. She died three days earlier on April 15, 2017. But this was not the case of a miraculous resurrection or a stolen identity; this was another case of a so-called “zombie deed.” ... [read more]
Tuesday, November 03, 2020 @ 1:38 PM
Is SCC looking like SCOTUS?: The language in Fraser v. Canada
There’s something afoot in the Supreme Court of Canada. And it adds heavy fuel to the debate about the extent to which the court is becoming politicized. ... [read more]
Tuesday, November 03, 2020 @ 8:20 AM
Why lawyers should work with paralegals | Karen Heath
Rewind about five years. I am three weeks post-call and about to test out my litigation chops for the first time in provincial offences court. I have a script. It’s in 24 font and averages about 30 words per page. It includes my name written out so I remember to say it on the record, H-E-A-T-H, first initial K. I kid you not. I clerked, you see, so my in-court appearances were nil compared to my firm-articled compatriots. And I am nervous. ... [read more]
Monday, November 02, 2020 @ 1:02 PM
The lawyer-paralegal relationship in B.C. | Jennifer Brun
Lawyers and paralegals in British Columbia have been working together to provide client services for as long as there have been formal education programs for paralegals. This partnership brings together complementary skill sets, each founded through education, experiential training and ethical standards. Paralegals are defined by the BC Paralegal Association as those who “have legal training and knowledge of the substantive and procedural aspects of law and are capable of independent legal work, performed subject to the general supervision of a lawyer.” ... [read more]
Thursday, October 29, 2020 @ 1:38 PM
Popular misconceptions about court transcriptionists
Authorized Court Transcriptionists (ACTs) hear a lot of things that make us either cringe or laugh about how we are perceived. We all need to laugh once in a while, even when it hurts, so here we go! ... [read more]
Wednesday, October 28, 2020 @ 7:30 AM
BARRISTERS AND SOLICITORS - Disqualification or removal - Relationship with clientMotion by the applicants to remove the respondent’s lawyer as his lawyer of record. The deceased died in 2016. Her will named the respondent, one of her 11 children, as her sole Estate Trustee. ... [read more]
