Robert Micheli

This motion concerned the passing of accounts for the estate of Arturo Perlini, specifically challenging the compensation claimed by the estate trustees and the management fee claimed by the attorney under a power of attorney.

The respondent objected to the amounts as unreasonable.

The court applied the five factors from Re Toronto General Trusts and Central Ontario Railway to determine fair and reasonable compensation, finding the claimed amounts excessive due to lack of complexity, delays, and poor investment decisions.

The court reduced the estate trustee fees from 5% to 3% of the estate value and significantly reduced the power of attorney management fee.

The applicant sought a small estate certificate and directions on the validity of the deceased's will, specifically whether it was revived by subsequent holograph codicils after being revoked by marriage.

The court found that the will was revived under s. 19(1)(b) of the Succession Law Reform Act because the November 16, 2016 holograph codicil evinced the deceased's intention to give effect to the original will.

The court rejected the applicant's proposed four-step process under s. 21.1(1) of the Act, clarifying that s. 21.1(1) allows for validation of improperly executed documents expressing testamentary intent, but not for reading intentions into documents that are not clearly inferable.