Estate Litigation Update 2024

Course Chair
Helen H. Low, KC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver

About the Course Chair

Helen Low, KC practices at the Vancouver office of Fasken in the wills, trusts, and estates area, where she focuses on contentious matters that may lead to litigation. Helen also engages in estate and incapacity planning for clients who want to avoid future litigation.

She has taught the Succession law course at the Peter A. Allard, School of Law, UBC for 10 years and is on the editorial board for CLEBC's Estate Disputes in British Columbia: A Litigator's Guide and a contributing author for a number of other CLEBC estate publications. Helen is a frequent speaker and author in estate and trust law matters both in BC and nationally. In 2014, she received her current King's Counsel appointment.

Online Moderator
Vivian Ho — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver

Faculty
Justice Amy D. Francis — Supreme Court of BC, Vancouver
Tara R. Britnell, KC — Hamilton Duncan, Surrey
Eric B. Clavier — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Aubrie Girou — Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang, Vancouver
Peter J. Glowacki — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
M. Scott Kerwin — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Kimberly A. Kuntz — Scion Law LLP, Vancouver
Roger D. Lee — DLA Piper (Canada) LLP, Vancouver
Amy A. Mortimore, KC — Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver
Chelsea D. Wilson — Ramsay Lampman Rhodes, Nanaimo

Course Materials Contributor
Christy Tang — Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang, Vancouver
Zachary White — Ramsay Lampman Rhodes, Nanaimo

Click here for full faculty bios

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Annotated Estates Practice 2022

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Your portable estates law library

This publication is essential for: all wills and estates practitioners looking for a handy reference, particularly in court or when away from the office

Current to: January 1, 2024

Annotated Estates Practice is your indispensable compilation of BC wills and estates statutes, rules, and regulations. Designed for portability, this resource is convenient for use both at the office and in court. It is annually updated by experienced estates lawyers who annotate key statutes as well as the relevant Supreme Court Civil Rules with summaries of important decisions. Also included are former statutes and a table of concordance from the former statutes for ease of use. 

With Annotated Estates Practice, you will be able to:

• easily access core materials for your wills and estates practice in one place
  
• efficiently begin the search for answers to your wills and estates question
  
• easily understand the courts' interpretation of specific sections of key statutes and rules

View a sample from this book!

The 2024 update incorporates amendments and updates to the legislation, rules, practice directions, and summaries of case law to January 1, 2024. 

• wills variation s. 60
• trust cases
• ss. 58, 132, 151

• capacity and undue influence determinations by solicitors
• drafting to deal with changes and removal of executors and trustees
• planning to assess and address will variation risks
• can a trustee's discretionary powers be drafted too broadly

• standard of care
• proving a breach
• removal and passing of accounts
• how to establish reasonableness on accounting/fees

• client intake
• initial considerations—goals and resources
• what claims to bring
• developing the strategy for resolution
• managing client expectations
• role of the estate litigator
• ethical and professional responsibility issues

• variation claims
• undue influence claims
• proof of will claims
• asset recovery claims
• beneficiary/trustee contests

• self-represented litigants in mediation and in court
• choosing the best venue—advantages and disadvantages to mediation and to court
• being fully prepared for mediation and for trial