J. Kranjc

In an ongoing estate litigation matter, the court determined costs for several preliminary steps, including the determination of an estate asset, production of solicitor files, an abandoned consolidation motion, and case management conferences.

The court awarded costs to the applicant and other beneficiaries, payable largely by the former estate trustees personally due to their improper conduct and conflicts of interest, with some portions payable by the estate.

The plaintiffs, stepchildren of the deceased, challenged the deceased's 2010 will, arguing that she and her late husband (the plaintiffs' father) had executed mutual wills in 1998.

The 1998 wills left their respective estates to each other, with the remainder divided equally among their four children.

After her husband's death, the deceased executed a new will leaving her entire estate to her own two daughters.

On a motion for summary judgment, the court found clear and convincing evidence of a verbal contract between the spouses that neither could change the effect of their 1998 wills without the other's consent.

The court declared the 1998 wills to be mutual wills and ordered the estate to be held in trust and divided equally among the four children.