Wills, Trusts & Estates

  • July 16, 2025

    Dentons stands by its commitment to inclusion as it navigates trade volatility, say CEOs

    These are “interesting times” to be one of the world’s largest law firms. With about 5,900 lawyers across more than 80 countries, Dentons is helping clients navigate some of the worst economic volatility in decades and generational technological change as it carefully works to protect its own flanks from a U.S. administration that’s frequently been hostile to the legal sector. Global CEO Kate Barton said that while several major U.S. law firms have been targeted by President Donald Trump — particularly those perceived as opposing him or representing his adversaries — Dentons has managed to avoid the administration’s scrutiny by maintaining a bipartisan approach.

  • July 16, 2025

    Prepare for change: The plain language legal writing standard is coming

    What lawyer has not heard that legal writing should be clear and concise? Everyone wants legal documents to be straightforward, client-oriented and “crisp.” Yet, cryptic memoranda, wordy submissions, legalese-filled judgments and insurmountable walls of text in contracts and policies remain common. Even with clarity in mind, writing clearly is hard without knowing the rules to guide the process.

  • July 15, 2025

    Home sweet home? Legal, practical guide to LTC vs. retirement homes

    As individuals get older, the idea of transitioning to a long-term care home or retirement home becomes relevant depending on the circumstances of the individual. This article will dive into the differences between long-term care and retirement homes and the legal perspectives of such.

  • July 14, 2025

    Federal Court judge strikes SRL’s submission in employment dispute over AI hallucination citation

    In another sign of AI’s growing impact on the law, the Federal Court has ordered that a self-represented respondent’s motion record be removed from a court file because it relied in part on a non-existent court decision hallucinated by an artificial intelligence (AI) research tool.

  • July 14, 2025

    FINTRAC publishes updates to its guidance on ministerial directive on Iran

    Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog has updated its existing guidance related to the federal government’s ministerial directive on financial transactions associated with Iran.

  • July 11, 2025

    FINTRAC flags rising use of dual-use goods, cryptocurrencies in weapons proliferation

    Canada’s financial intelligence unit, FINTRAC, is warning that foreign actors are increasingly targeting Canadian dual-use goods and turning to cryptocurrencies in efforts to acquire resources and information to build weapons of mass destruction and evade counter-proliferation controls.

  • July 09, 2025

    From duty to liability: The evolution of trustee responsibility in Ontario courts

    The recent case of MacBeth Estate from the Ontario Court of Appeal (MacBeth Estate v. MacBeth, 2025 ONCA 360) is a reminder of the personal liability that estate trustees may be exposed to if their actions warrant it — and an example of how the court will address estate disputes where there has been a breakdown in trust between the estate trustee and a beneficiary.

  • July 08, 2025

    Field Law names Farha Salim as new managing partner

    Field Law has announced that Farha Salim will assume the role of the firm’s managing partner for a three-year term that began on July 1, 2025.

  • July 04, 2025

    McCarthy Tétrault adds two partners to support new charities and non-profits group

    McCarthy Tétrault has welcomed Robert Hayhoe and Nicole D’Aoust as partners in its new Charities and Non-Profits Group, part of its National Tax Group.

  • July 04, 2025

    Reclaiming the role of executor: When can a renunciation be rescinded?

    In the world of estate administration, the term “renunciation” has a very specific meaning — as noted in the most recent edition of Macdonell, Sheard and Hull on Probate Practice, renunciation refers to a “formal act … whereby an executor having a right to a grant of probate or a person having a right to a grant of administration renounces such right.” In Ontario, s. 34 of the Estates Act also confirms that the rights of executorship will “wholly cease” if a person renounces probate of a will.

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