Madoff's sons' estates settle with bankruptcy trustee

Sometimes when things go wrong, they go VERY wrong. This was the case with Bernie Madoff, whose investment Ponzi scheme was exposed in 2008....

Estates gone wrong: this week's episode of The Law Show is now online

This week on The Law Show we talked about estates gone wrong. We took several real stories of estate failures and talked about how they went...

Wave of wealth transfer has lawyers bracing for litigation

$900 billion is a lot of money. That is the amount of money estimated to be handed down from the post-war generation to their children and g...

Court challenge over elderly man's will may be a sign of things to come

There is a very sad, upsetting case being heard in the Ontario court. It is about the will of Christos Vloyiannitis, who died in 2013 at the...

Must beneficiaries all present a united front to challenge an executor?

Recently a reader asked me a question about whether ALL beneficiaries of an estate had to band together to tackle an executor, or whether on...

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...

Sibling squabble over late brother's Meccano set goes to court

There is a recent story from New Zealand about the estate of Bert van der Lubbe, who died in 2015. Mr van der Lubbe did not have a spouse or...

What issues are raised when an inheritance passes outside the family?

Unfortunately, estate litigation is not rare. Beneficiaries can be protective of their potential inheritance, and sometimes do not look kind...