Mark Donald Lahn

The court dismissed the respondent's request for an adjournment and granted the application for partition and sale of jointly owned property.

The decision details a lengthy procedural history, including multiple adjournments and missed deadlines by the respondent, and clarifies the legal principles governing adjournments and the entitlement to partition and sale under Ontario law.

The court found no evidence to justify further delay and ordered the sale of the property, with proceeds to be held in trust pending resolution of monetary disputes.

The applicant, Amanda Morden, sought a declaration that the respondent, Ingrid Niwranski, held certain investment accounts in joint ownership with the deceased, Giuseppe Lagana, subject to a resulting trust in favour of his estate.

The court considered whether the presumption of resulting trust was rebutted by evidence of Lagana’s intention to gift the right of survivorship to Niwranski.

After reviewing affidavits, cross-examinations, and the testimony of a financial planner, the court found sufficient corroborative evidence that Lagana intended Niwranski to receive the accounts upon his death.

The presumption of resulting trust was rebutted, and judgment was granted in favour of the respondent.

The applicant, common-law spouse of the deceased, sought an additional $1 million from the estate based on an alleged secret trust and an order for dependant support under the Succession Law Reform Act (SLRA).

The applicant had already received $1 million from the will and cohabitation agreement.

The court dismissed the secret trust claim, finding no clear intention, communication, or acceptance of a trust beyond the existing testamentary provisions.

The dependant support claim was also dismissed, as the court found the deceased had made adequate provision for the applicant, considering her financial independence under the cohabitation agreement, the deceased's lifetime support, and the applicant's current assets, including an imputed $250,000 gift she made to her daughter.

This case involved two consolidated applications concerning the Estate of William R. Harper.

The primary dispute was over the beneficiary designation of a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and a Life Income Fund (LIF) held with National Bank Financial Inc. (NBF).

Erin Forsyth claimed to be the beneficiary of both, based on a disputed beneficiary designation form.

Dona Jean Murphy, as Estate Trustee, argued the Estate was the beneficiary and challenged Forsyth's designation on grounds of undue influence and lack of capacity.

The court found the disputed form valid for the RRSP only, designating Forsyth as beneficiary, and dismissed claims of undue influence and lack of capacity.

The LIF was determined to be part of the Estate.

The applicant sought directions regarding the testamentary estate of Mary Frances Rae, specifically concerning the beneficial ownership of a property transferred by Mary to the respondent in 2004.

The core issue was whether the property was held on a resulting trust for Mary's estate or passed to the respondent by right of survivorship.

The court found that the respondent successfully rebutted the presumption of resulting trust with clear, convincing, and cogent evidence of Mary's donative intention, concluding that full beneficial ownership passed to the respondent upon Mary's death.

This is an appeal from a judgment vacating a Notice of Objection to a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with a Will.

The appellant argued the application judge erred in finding they failed to meet the minimal evidentiary threshold required to challenge the will's validity and obtain discovery.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, affirming that the application judge correctly applied the Neuberger v. York test, which requires an interested person to adduce some evidence that, if accepted, would call into question the will's validity.

The court found no palpable and overriding error in the application judge's assessment of the evidence.