In Wade v. Wade, 2021 ABQB 994, two sons Duane and Darren had removed roughly $250,000 from their father’s accounts days before he died via a freshly appointed power of attorney.
The parties in the appeal in Lux v Lux, 2021 ABCA 413, were engaged in an acrimonious matrimonial property dispute. But, in less than two months before the latest appeal hearing, the respondent died.
In Hogue v Johnston (Estate), 2021 ABQB 913, Cathy Hogue was suing her former husband, Earl Johnston, for unequal distribution of family property after their divorce.
When handling an elderly parent’s finances, good recordkeeping is often tedious and time-consuming.
How can a wills and estates lawyer interview a donor for 2.5 hours, take 31 pages of detailed notes, determine the donor to have legal capacity to make an enduring power of attorney (EPA), and yet still have the resulting instrument be declared invalid?
When a person dies, section 11 of the Alberta Evidence Act may be invoked with respect to a claim against the estate.
An attorney is appointed pursuant to an enduring power of attorney, who then has the authority to make financial decisions for the person appointing them. No, an attorney in this case does not need to be a lawyer.
Within a personal directive, a person appoints an agent to make personal decisions, on their behalf after they lose mental capacity.
Legal issues rarely turn on petty considerations but allowing irrelevant conflict to obscure reality can result in unnecessary litigation and increased costs awards.
Trustees and guardians of represented adults need to diligently manage and record the finances of adult they oversee if they want to be reimbursed. The Applicant in Resek (Re), 2018 ABQB 497, should have heeded that advice long before he came before the Court.
