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The court dismissed an application to assess a solicitor's account, finding a valid percentage-based fee agreement and no special circumstances.
The applicant sought an order for assessment of her former counsel's accounts, more than one month after payment, pursuant to the Solicitors Act.
The court found that there was an agreement for a 15% fee based on the amount recovered, which was not a contingency fee agreement under the Act.
The court also found no "special circumstances" to justify an assessment of the accounts, which had been approved and paid, well beyond the statutory limitation period.
The application was dismissed.
Adult children added as parties to dependant’s support claim against estate.
In a dependant’s support application under the Succession Law Reform Act brought by a surviving spouse against a deceased spouse’s estate, the estate respondents moved to add the applicant’s adult children as parties.
The respondents argued that the children may have a statutory obligation to support their mother under s. 32 of the Family Law Act.
The court held that, although the Succession Law Reform Act does not expressly provide a mechanism to add such parties, the principles reflected in the Family Law Act and Family Law Rules support adding persons who may share a support obligation.
The court concluded that the applicant’s adult children may have an obligation to provide support and should therefore be added as parties to ensure all potentially responsible parties are before the court.
Pre‑retirement pension death benefit to estate excluded from deceased’s net family property.
A surviving spouse brought a motion for an extension of time to file an election under s. 6(1) of the Family Law Act and sought directions regarding whether a pre‑retirement death benefit payable from a pension plan to the deceased spouse’s estate should be included in the deceased’s net family property.
The parties disputed whether the spouses were separated at the time of death, which would determine entitlement to the pension benefit.
The court held that a pre‑retirement death benefit payable to the estate is not an asset owned by the deceased on the valuation date and therefore cannot be included in the deceased’s net family property for equalization purposes.
The request for directions on including the benefit in the estate’s NFP was refused.
However, the court granted a 90‑day extension for the surviving spouse to file her election under the Family Law Act.
