Overview In Chieffallo v Blair, the Ontario Superior Court tackled a growing question: once you renounce your appointment as an estate trustee, can you later revoke that decision? The judge confirmed that while the court does have authority to allow retraction, the decision remains in its discretion, and courts will scrutinize such applications closely. The Facts The deceased’s will appointed her two children, a son and a daughter, as co-estate trustees. Two and a half months after their mother’s death, the

In Gruber v. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2025 ONSC 3088, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice was asked to interpret the will of Yaacov Glickman, a deceased academic who left his entire estate to support Jewish-Arab academic cooperation through an “endowment” at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The estate trustee, concerned about ambiguity in the testamentary language and the risk of the gift failing for uncertainty, brought an application for advice and directions. Justice Papageorgiou ultimately upheld the

Estate trustees can be held personally liable for legal costs if their actions are found to be self-serving or contrary to the estate’s best interests. As confirmed in MacBeth Estate v. MacBeth, 2025 ONCA 360, trustees who pursue unnecessary litigation or appeals may be denied indemnity from the estate and ordered to pay costs personally. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld an order removing two estate trustees and ordered them to personally pay $21,000 in costs, finding that their

Ontario courts take issues of mental capacity seriously, particularly when it affects a person’s ability to manage property, make personal care decisions, or instruct legal counsel. Two distinct—but occasionally overlapping—legal tools are available to the court in these situations: A mental health examination under section 105 of the Courts of Justice Act, often used to assess whether a party is a “person under disability” in litigation; and A capacity assessment under section 79 of the Substitute Decisions Act, 1992,

Scott v. Wilson, 2025 ONSC 2981: Court Orders Capacity Assessment Over Objections Amid Power Struggles Guardianship Dispute Justice C. Gilmore of the Ontario Superior Court (Estates List) ordered a capacity assessment under section 79 of the Substitute Decisions Act, 1992 despite opposition from the allegedly incapable adult and her common-law spouse. The case illustrates how courts protect vulnerable adults from undue influence, manage conflicting power of attorney claims, and prioritize objective capacity determinations when family dynamics compromise independent decision-making.