Estate and Trust Litigation

We represent adult children who believe a parent’s will failed to make adequate provision for them, a claim available under section 60 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act regardless of the reasons stated in the will itself. Our lawyers assess the relationship, the size of the estate, and the moral and legal obligations a parent owed their child before recommending whether to proceed. A disinherited child is not automatically entitled to an equal share, but a will that provides nothing at all is often vulnerable to a properly prepared claim.

We represent surviving spouses, including common-law partners in a marriage-like relationship of at least two years, whose late partner’s will did not adequately provide for them. Our lawyers document the length and nature of the relationship and the couple’s shared financial life, since these factors weigh heavily in how a court assesses adequate provision. A surviving spouse’s legal entitlement is often considerably greater than what an outdated or poorly drafted will actually provides.

We defend executors and estates against wills variation claims brought by a disinherited spouse or child, reviewing the will-maker’s stated reasons and the evidence available to support them. Our lawyers assess honestly whether a claim is likely to succeed, since defending an unwinnable position simply depletes the estate for every beneficiary. That honest assessment often opens the door to an early resolution that protects the estate from the cost of a prolonged fight.

We apply to remove an executor or trustee under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act and the Trustee Act where their conduct, incapacity, or conflict of interest has put the estate’s assets or its administration at genuine risk. Our lawyers document the specific misconduct or hostility that has undermined a beneficiary’s confidence in the estate’s administration before bringing the application. Courts remove an executor only where the evidence supports it, and a well-documented application is what makes that outcome achievable.

We compel executors and trustees to provide a full accounting of an estate’s assets and expenditures, a process known as passing of accounts, where a beneficiary has been left without basic information about what the estate actually holds. Our lawyers press for the specific records an executor is legally obligated to produce, rather than accepting a vague summary. A beneficiary is entitled to see exactly where the estate’s money has gone, and we treat that entitlement as non-negotiable.

We pursue claims against executors who have breached their fiduciary duty, including self-dealing, favouring one beneficiary over another, or using estate assets for their own benefit. Our lawyers trace the estate’s transactions to establish precisely what was taken or mismanaged and quantify the loss to the estate. An executor who has broken this trust can be held personally liable for what the estate lost as a result.

We resolve disputes over a joint bank account or jointly held property that a parent placed in a child’s name before death, applying the presumption of resulting trust the Supreme Court of Canada set out in Pecore v. Pecore, which holds the asset in trust for the estate unless the child can prove a true gift was intended. Our lawyers gather the evidence, including the parent’s stated intentions and the account’s actual use during their lifetime, needed to prove or rebut that presumption. BC courts continue to apply this presumption closely in disputes between siblings over a parent’s remaining assets, and how that evidence is gathered often decides the outcome.

We resolve disputes over whether money a parent provided to a child during their lifetime was a gift or a loan still owed to the estate, a distinction that directly affects how much the child ultimately receives relative to their siblings. Our lawyers review the available records, including any written agreement, repayment history, or correspondence, to establish which characterization the evidence actually supports. Where no clear documentation exists, the surrounding circumstances at the time the money changed hands often become the deciding factor.

We challenge and defend wills on the basis of testamentary capacity, the legal standard requiring a will-maker to understand the nature of making a will, the extent of their property, and the claims of those who might expect to benefit from it. Our lawyers gather medical records and the evidence of the lawyer or notary who prepared the will to establish the will-maker’s actual state of mind at the time it was signed. Capacity is assessed at the moment the will was made, not before or after, and that timing is often where a case is won or lost.

We bring and defend claims that a will, or a lifetime gift, was the product of undue influence, where a person in a position of trust over a vulnerable will-maker used that position to secure a benefit they would not otherwise have received. Our lawyers focus on the relationship of dependency between the will-maker and the person accused of influence, since BC courts have recently scrutinized this dynamic closely in cases involving vulnerable or ill will-makers. Proving undue influence turns on this pattern of dependency, not on a single suspicious conversation.

We raise and respond to suspicious circumstances challenges, a doctrine that shifts the burden onto the party defending a will to prove the will-maker actually knew and approved its contents where the circumstances surrounding its preparation raise genuine doubt. Our lawyers identify the specific red flags a court will look for, including a beneficiary’s involvement in instructing the will or an unexplained departure from a prior, long-standing estate plan. Identifying these red flags early often determines whether a will withstands scrutiny or is set aside.

We resolve disputes over a grant of probate, including contested applications and the resealing of a foreign grant of probate for an estate with assets both inside and outside Canada. Our lawyers address competing applications for the same grant and the documentation a foreign grant requires to be recognized in British Columbia. These disputes often need to be resolved before any other estate litigation issue can move forward, and we treat them with that priority.

We advise families navigating an estate where a loved one died without a valid will, applying the distribution rules set out in Part 3 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act to determine who is entitled to inherit and in what share. Our lawyers also assist in applying to be appointed as the estate’s administrator where no executor has been named. Dying without a will does not mean an estate is without direction, but the rules that fill that gap rarely match what a family expects, and we walk clients through exactly what they mean for their situation.

We act for adults and family members who suspect an attorney appointed under a power of attorney has misused their authority, including unauthorized transfers, undisclosed spending, or self-dealing with the adult’s assets. Our lawyers can apply to the Public Guardian and Trustee or the court to investigate the attorney’s conduct and to recover assets improperly taken. An attorney’s authority exists to protect the adult who granted it, and we act quickly once that authority has been turned against them.

We apply for committeeship under the Patients Property Act where an adult can no longer manage their own affairs and no valid power of attorney or representation agreement is in place to authorize someone to act for them. Our lawyers prepare the medical and financial evidence the court requires and advise family members on their respective roles once a committee is appointed. This process protects an incapable adult’s finances and care decisions when no other legal authority already exists to do so.

We advise families on representation agreements under sections 7 and 9 of the Representation Agreement Act, which let an adult authorize someone else to make personal care and, in some cases, financial decisions on their behalf without a full court application. Our lawyers determine which type of agreement fits an adult’s actual capability and needs, since the two sections authorize meaningfully different scopes of decision-making. Putting the right agreement in place before capacity becomes a dispute is usually far simpler than resolving one after the fact.