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The Court dismissed an appeal for dependant's relief, upholding findings of no cohabitation.
The appellants appealed a Superior Court judgment dismissing their application for dependant's relief under the Succession Law Reform Act.
The motion judge found that the appellants did not establish the requisite relationship with the deceased to qualify for dependant's relief.
The Court of Appeal upheld the decision, finding no basis to interfere with the motion judge's findings of fact, including that the appellants and the deceased did not live together for any identifiable period and that the deceased did not have a settled intention to treat the second appellant as a child of his family.
The appellants' attempt to introduce fresh evidence regarding CPP survivor benefits was rejected as irrelevant.
Dependant relief application dismissed as applicants failed to prove cohabitation or settled intention to treat as family.
The applicants, a mother and her adult daughter, sought dependant relief from the estate of the deceased under the Succession Law Reform Act.
The mother claimed to be the deceased's common-law spouse, and the daughter claimed the deceased demonstrated a settled intention to treat her as a child of his family.
The court dismissed the application, finding insufficient evidence that the mother and the deceased ever cohabited or lived together continuously for three years.
The court also found no settled intention by the deceased to treat the adult daughter as his own child.
The application was dismissed with costs awarded to the respondent estate.
