Rule of Law

I am pleased to announce that Parveen Shergill has joined our firm. Parveen was called to the bar in 2015, after having served as a judicial law clerk for the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Ben...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2024/04/parveen-shergill-joins-sabey-rule-llp.html

Victor Stephen Zaleschuk died on January 2, 2022, leaving his spouse, Wendy Chen, and two children, Shane Zaleschuk and Christian Zaleschuk. Most of his wealth was in California, and was held in ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2024/02/zaleschuk-estate.html

In Tom v. Tang , 2023 BCCA 221, released in June, 2023, the British Columbia Court of Appeal clarified that in a wills variation proceeding the Court applies an objective standard when considerin...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2024/01/tom-v-tang.html

  A recent change to British Columbia’s Family Law Act provides greater protection for inheritances from claims of spouses on the breakdown of a marriage or marriage-like relationship. The b...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2023/05/amendment-to-family-law-act-enhances.html

The Continue Legal Education Society of British Columbia has published a new manual entitled Estates Disputes in British Columbia: A Litigator's Guide.  The Chapters are: > 1.  Initial Con...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2023/05/estates-disputes-in-british-columbia.html

  Madam Justice Horsman’s decision in Canfield v. Bronze Wines Ltd. , 2022 BCSC 546, additional reasons at 2022 BCSC 1435 , illustrates the application of unconscionability to improvident tr...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2023/02/canfield-v-bronze-wines-ltd.html

  Recent amendments to the Power of Attorney Act and Power of Attorney Regulation permit remote witnessing of signatures in British Columbia. These amendments came into affect on January 1, 20...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2023/01/remote-witnessing-of-powers-of-attorney.html

The British Columbia Law Institute has recently publish Undue Influence Recognition and Prevention: A Guide for Legal Practitioners together with A Reference Aid .  In 2011, the BCLI publishe...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2023/01/british-columbia-law-institute-undue.html

I am pleased to write that Shamim Aidun has recently joined our firm as an associate.  Shamim has his law degree from the University of Birmingham in England. He articled and began a broad-r...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/11/shamim-aidun-joins-sabey-rule.html

  A mere promise to leave property to someone in the will is not enforceable. But, like so much in law, there are exceptions. One exception that sometimes arises occurs when the person who is ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-taciturn-and-undemonstrative-men-of.html

 When assisting clients in creating trusts to benefit their children, I am sometimes asked about potential claims that a child’s spouse might make to trust assets if there is a breakdown of th...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/10/cottrell-v-cottrell.html

Last month, I wrote that the courts in British Columbia are reluctant to interfere with a trustees discretion when the trust instrument gives the trustee a wide discretion to make distributions ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/10/ghag-v-ghag.html

When a trustee or other fiduciary profits from a breach of their obligations, the court may award the profits to beneficiaries. This discourages trustees from wrongdoing,  and is referred to as ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/09/chung-v-chung.html

  Discretionary trusts are often drafted broadly permitting the trustees “absolute and uncontrolled discretion.” This may be so, even when the will maker or settlor had in mind creating a ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/09/re-zaleschuk.html

My friend and colleague Braeden Rahn sent me these photographs he took of Parliament House , where the Supreme Courts of Scotland sit, and the High Court of Judiciary , both in Edinburgh, S...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/08/supreme-courts-of-scotland-and.html

  In a decision released on February 25, 2022, the British Columbia Court of Appeal confirmed that the personal representative of a deceased separated married spouse may bring a family law cla...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/08/can-personal-representative-of-deceased.html

 In a decision released June 17, 2022, Canada (Attorney General) v. Collins Family Trust , a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada held that taxpayers could not rely on equitable recission of ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/07/collins-family-trust.html

 The Canadian Centre for 'Elder Law has an excellent website dealing with elder abuse and neglect, entitled "Practical Guide to Elder Abuse and Neglect Law in Canada. " It includes sections desc...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/06/practical-guide-to-elder-abuse-and.html

  Its easy for legal expenses in emotional estate disputes to get out of hand. Some are surprised when I tell them that legal expenses can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/03/avoidable-legal-expenses-in-estate.html

  The doctrine of unconscionable procurement is a helpful tool in challenging gratuitous transfers if the person benefiting has been actively involved in procuring property from the transferor...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2022/01/unconscionable-procurement-pinsonneault.html

  I am pleased to welcome Jana Keeley to our firm. Before joining Sabey Rule, she practiced estate and commercial litigation at a leading civil and commercial boutique firm in Kelowna. She ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2021/11/jana-keeley-joins-sabey-rule.html

Registered owners of land held in trust and corporations and partnerships that own land in British Columbia have until November 30, 2021 to file a report with the Land Owner Transparency Regis...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2021/10/land-owner-transparency-reports-must-be.html

  In Chichak v. Chichak , 2021 BCCA 286, the British Columbia Court of Appeal confirmed that a creditor who has registered a judgment against real property held in the name of a debtor cannot ...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2021/09/chichak-v-chichak.html

Getting wills signed during Covid-19 has been a challenge, especially for persons in retirement communities and care homes when visitors are restrictions. The process those of us who are estate-p...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2021/08/supreme-court-of-british-columbia-gives.html

Both Nova Scotia and British Columbia allow independent adult children to apply to court to vary their parents’ wills. Although other provinces in Canada have legislation allowing spouses, mino...

http://rulelaw.blogspot.com/2021/06/nova-scotia-court-of-appeal-allows.html