L. Silver

The applicant father brought an urgent motion regarding parenting time during the COVID-19 court suspension.

The triage judge reviewed the father's materials and found that he had unilaterally retained the three-year-old child after a period of access due to frustration over timesharing disputes.

The court declined to hear the motion, noting strong disapproval of self-help in parenting disputes, and recommended the immediate return of the child to the respondent mother.

A dispute arose during a passing of accounts over whether funds held in joint bank accounts between a deceased parent and two adult children formed part of the estate.

The accounts were opened with rights of survivorship and funded exclusively by the deceased.

Applying the principles in Pecore v. Pecore, the court considered evidence of intention, bank documentation, control of funds, tax treatment, and surrounding circumstances.

The court held that the presumption of resulting trust was rebutted because the deceased intended to gift the beneficial interest in the joint accounts inter vivos.

The evidence further supported that the surviving joint account holders were to distribute the funds equally among all siblings, either as direct beneficiaries or through a bare trust.

The funds therefore did not form part of the estate.

Residual beneficiaries brought a motion for directions in a contested passing of accounts relating to a large estate.

They alleged that estate trustees had taken excessive executor’s compensation and sought review and possible repayment.

A former trustee sought to add an accounting firm as a party on the basis that the firm had received a substantial portion of the executor compensation through a partnership arrangement and might be vicariously liable under the Partnerships Act if the compensation was excessive.

The court held that there was a triable issue regarding whether the partner acted within the scope of partnership business or with the firm’s authorization, and that the firm’s presence was necessary to adjudicate the issues effectively.

The firm was therefore added as a party and a procedural timetable was established for discovery and trial of the passing of accounts.