Joseph E. Sloniowski

The applicant was previously successful in her application for dependant support from her late spouse's estate.

She sought costs from the respondent sister, who had contested the application and made unfounded allegations of misappropriation.

The respondent sought costs from the estate.

The court noted that while the litigation arose partly because the intestate failed to make adequate provision for his spouse, awarding costs from the estate would effectively penalize the successful applicant, who was awarded the entire residue.

The court ordered the respondent to pay the applicant's costs on a partial indemnity basis, fixed at $13,500.

The applicant, the common law spouse of the intestate for approximately two decades, applied for support from the estate under the Succession Law Reform Act.

The intestate died suddenly, leaving an estate of modest value and no other dependants.

The court found that the intestate had not made adequate provision for the applicant's proper support, considering her age, health, and accustomed standard of living.

Applying the moral duty framework, the court ordered the entire residue of the estate to be conveyed to the applicant.

In a family law proceeding involving parenting issues, the respondent brought a motion seeking production of marriage counselling notes and records created by a psychologist who conducted joint counselling sessions with the parties prior to their separation.

The court held that such records are privileged and ordinarily require the consent of both parties for disclosure.

Although the court has authority to order production of privileged documents where relevant and fair to both parties, the motion was brought too close to the scheduled trial and risked necessitating an adjournment and updates to the Office of the Children’s Lawyer report.

Given the presumption of confidentiality in marriage counselling and the late timing of the request, the court found disclosure would be unfair at that stage of the proceeding.