Medical Examination Ordered After Alleged Victim of Elder Abuse Denies Incapacity
We are often contacted by concerned family members wanting to step in to help an elderly person whom they suspect is being abused. However, bringing litigation on…
Family of BC Senior with Dementia Sues Alleged Financial Predator
Predatory marriage is a form of elder abuse that is on the rise. In addition to being conned into marriage by opportunistic predators, vulnerable seniors are taken…
BC Family Law: What if a Spouse Lacks Capacity to Understand Consequences of Marriage?
Marriage is a contract. If one or both parties lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature of the marriage contract and the legal consequences flowing from…
Were Elderly Man’s Marriage and Will the Products of Undue Influence by his Caregiver?
In an earlier post, we discussed Ross-Scott v. Potvin, 2014 BCSC 435, a case in which the only living relatives of the deceased challenged what they viewed…
Abused Senior Sets Aside Transfer of his Home to Predatory Spouse
Our Vancouver estate litigators and family lawyers have been examining the issue of predatory marriage in BC and concerns that such marriages may be on the rise…
Does Independent Legal Advice Rebut Undue Influence?
A presumption of undue influence is established when the nature of the relationship between the parties demonstrates the potential for domination. To rebut the presumption, the donor…
Vancouver Estate Litigation: Handwritten Wills
Can a handwritten will be valid? In Hadley Estate (Re), 2016 BCSC 765 the court was asked to decide whether a handwritten journal entry described as a…
Suspicious Circumstances: Fluctuating Capacity of Testator
Issues of testamentary capacity and undue influence frequently arise when a new will is made under ostensibly suspicious circumstances: late in a testator’s life, while in the…
Dementia, Undue Influence and Testamentary Capacity
In Elder Estate v. Bradshaw, 2015 BCSC 1266, disinherited family members questioned the testamentary capacity of their elderly uncle who, while in the early stages of Alzheimer’s-related…
Rebutting the Presumption of Resulting Trust
Can a parent make a gift of property to some adult children but not others? Is mere suspicion that the transfer is “out of character” sufficient to…