Coquitlam Lawyer: Suspicious Circumstances & Your Parents’ Estate: What to Look For.
Wills, estates, and suspicious circumstances.
Suspicious circumstances often surround a lost loved one’s estate; TRI-CITY LEGAL are experts in such cases.
Wills and Estate Litigation can result from various issues including suspicious circumstances. It is sad to think that family members may take advantage of an elder parent who may have lost their mental capacity to manage their affairs or make financial decisions. It is even more disappointing that a family member may do this to disinherit another sibling. Unfortunately, at times, this may arise.
A prime example of the above is the recent case of Young v Veselic, 2021 BCSC 1106. This case is an emotionally charged, and volatile matter where the Judge, Mr. Justice Crerar stated as follows: “These reasons arise from an unhappy estate dispute between two siblings…Unhappily, each sibling accuses the other of misappropriating their mother’s funds while they had access to certain of the mother’s accounts. These facts are heavily contested. It is important to emphasize that the Court at this hearing is making no final pronouncement concerning the validity of those allegations”.
SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES:
1. Leaving a vulnerable elder, with deteriorating physical health and mental capacity, dependent on one individual.
In Young, supra, the will-maker was released from a hospital to spend her final days under the supervision and care of one of her children; this was at a time where her physical health and mental capacity had deteriorated. Justice Crerar described same at paras. 15 and 16:
Around July 25, 2019, three significant events central to this litigation occurred.
First, the mother was released from Kelowna Hospital, in anticipation of spending her final days at her son’s home rather than in the hospital or a hospice…
2. Executing and/or amending a Will only days before the will-maker’s passing; particularly, when the estate is left to one (sole) beneficiary.
In Young, supra, the will-maker executed her second will shortly before her passing - failing to utilize her regular solicitor - and left the entirety of her estate to one child (who also happened to be the executor). As Just Crerar described:
[17] Second, as indicated above, the mother executed the second will, making Stanislav the executor and sole beneficiary. She did not have Mr. McKenzie, her regular solicitor, draft the second will. Instead, a new Kelowna-based solicitor, Christopher Wendell, attended to its drafting and solemnization.
TRI-CITY LEGAL can help you in circumstances when a Will is amended, or a new Will is executed, a short-time before one’s passing.
3. Transferring ownership of the will-maker’s property to one (sole) beneficiary only days before his/her passing.
In Young, supra, the will-maker transferred the ownership of her home to one child. As Justice Crerar explained:
[18] Third, the mother signed a Form A document, transferring the house into the names of herself and Stanislav as joint tenants. Again, the mother’s regular solicitor, Mr. McKenzie, was not retained to carry out this transaction. Instead, again, the new Kelowna solicitor Mr. Wendell carried out this transfer.
At this time, it is difficult to determine how Young, supra will conclude. However, it is clear that s. 52 of the Wills, Estates, and Succession Act will play a large part in the matter; this section states as follows:
Undue influence
s. 52: In a proceeding, if a person claims that a will or any provision of it resulted from another person
(a)being in a position where the potential for dependence or domination of the will-maker was present, and
(b)using that position to unduly influence the will-maker to make the will or the provision of it that is challenged,
and establishes that the other person was in a position where the potential for dependence or domination of the will-maker was present, the party seeking to defend the will or the provision of it that is challenged or to uphold the gift has the onus of establishing that the person in the position where the potential for dependence or domination of the will-maker was present did not exercise undue influence over the will-maker with respect to the will or the provision of it that is challenged.
Pleading undue influence places the burden of proof on the Beneficiary to confirm there was no such influence.
Justice Crerar clearly agreed stating:
[65] I agree with Ivana that the issues of undue influence in the creation of the second will, along with the contemporaneous transfer of the Golden house and with the withdrawals from the mother’s bank account, are, factually and temporally, wholly intertwined…
Pleading undue influence places the burden of proof on the Beneficiary to confirm there was no such influence. TRI-CITY LEGAL has extensive experience prosecuting Undue Influence claims and can assist anyone that may have been disinherited due to suspicious circumstances.