Failure to follow Prudent Investor Rule costs executor $350,000

I sincerely hope that each and every one of you who is acting as an executor has heard of the Prudent Investor Rule. This is the rule that a...

I'm the only child and I'm the executor. Do I need probate to sell the house?

Not all wills need to be probated, but sometimes it's not clear whether a will needs to go through that process in any given situation. ...

Podcast: How to break up with your lawyer

Our latest podcast is up and ready. This is perhaps my favourite one so far. It's about "breaking up with" your lawyer and get...

When a lawyer makes a new will for a client, does the beneficiary under the earlier will have rights?

One of the questions I hear regularly from clients, blog readers, and seminar attendees is "can he do that?" Sometimes they are as...

New podcast: Working with your estate lawyer - fees & billing arrangements

Our latest podcast is now up on our website. This time we answered a number of questions about how estate lawyers bill, what to do if the bi...

Elderly widow involved in bitter estate dispute

A recent blog post by Toronto lawyer Charles Ticker, who blogs at The Sibling Fight, talks about the ongoing fight between 91-year-old Marga...

If a will leaves money to "my children or the survivors of them", who exactly are the survivors?

If a will says that a gift is left to "my children or the survivors of them", who is meant by "the survivors of them"? I...

Podcast: How to be a better beneficiary

Our latest podcast is ready for listening. This week we talked about beneficiaries. We covered what they're entitled to do and what they...

George Michael's estate is an example of tailoring a will to personal wishes

British newspapers and magazines have been reporting for a month or so now that the estate of pop star George Michael, who died on Christmas...