Kathleen M. Montello

The court considered whether the Last Will and Testament of Lynn Gloria Gamble, dated January 7, 2021, should be found valid and fully effective despite irregularities in its execution and the absence of the original.

The applicant, Robert Dunham, sought to have the will validated and a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee issued.

The respondent, Clarence Earl Gamble Jr., argued that the will was revoked and requested production of RBC safety deposit box access records.

The court found that the applicant had rebutted the presumption of revocation, validated the will under section 21.1 of the Succession Law Reform Act, and deemed the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation to be the intended beneficiary.

No costs were awarded.

The deceased left his entire estate to his second wife and named his brother as executor, with his estranged daughter as the alternate.

After the brother renounced, the daughter retained a law firm to administer the estate despite opposition from the widow, who was the sole beneficiary.

The widow successfully applied to pass over the daughter as executor.

The daughter's law firm then brought a charging motion against the estate for their legal fees, as the daughter refused to pay them.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the daughter had no legitimate motive to administer the estate and the legal steps taken were unreasonable.

The law firm was directed to seek payment directly from the daughter.

The appellant, the common-law spouse of the deceased, appealed a trial decision awarding her $350,000 in dependant's relief from the deceased's estate.

The Divisional Court found that the trial judge made several errors in principle, including misapplying the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines, improperly relying on the deceased's unimplemented intentions, and incorrectly calculating the net estate assets.

The Court set aside the trial judgment, conducted its own analysis of the legal and moral claims of the dependants, and increased the appellant's award to $750,000, plus costs, to adequately provide for her proper support while balancing the competing claims of the deceased's separated wife and adult daughters.