Pia H. Hundal

Appeal from a Master’s order dismissing a motion to consolidate or have five related estate, trust, negligence, and third-party proceedings heard together under Rule 6.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The appellants argued the Master misapplied Rule 6, lacked jurisdiction findings, and failed to grant ancillary relief including lifting a stay.

The court held the Master properly exercised her discretion, correctly considered the balance of convenience, and reasonably concluded that consolidating the proceedings would unfairly burden non-family parties with minimal benefit.

The court further held the Master correctly determined that certain requested relief, including effectively converting an application to an action and transferring estate matters, fell outside her jurisdiction.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.

Costs decision following a lengthy will challenge trial.

Although the plaintiff ultimately proved the validity of the will and became executor and principal beneficiary, the court found the defendants had reasonable grounds to challenge the will due to numerous suspicious circumstances and the plaintiff’s own conduct.

Applying Rule 57.01 and the modern estates litigation approach, the court held that the usual “loser pays” principle may yield where there is a reasonable basis to question testamentary capacity or execution.

Given the suspicious circumstances and litigation conduct, it was appropriate for the estate to bear the litigation costs.

The court fixed costs for the plaintiff and defendants at specified amounts payable from the estate.

The plaintiff son sought to propound his father's last will, which left the bulk of the estate to him and only $1,000 to each of his five defendant sisters.

The sisters challenged the will on the grounds of lack of due execution, undue influence, and lack of testamentary capacity, pointing to suspicious circumstances including the son's involvement in arranging the will with an unknown lawyer.

The court found that while suspicious circumstances existed, the son successfully proved on a balance of probabilities that the father had testamentary capacity and knew and approved of the will's contents.

The court ordered that a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with a will may issue.