Hull on Estates

This week on Hull on Estates, Doreen So and Kagan Acar discuss R. v. Konashewych, 2026 ONCA 497, in which the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the fraud convictions of a police officer and an employee of the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee who produced a fabricated will and pushed it through the probate process to transfer a vulnerable adult's estate to a fraudulent beneficiary. The episode explores how the fabricated will passed through probate on the strength of a third-party affidavit, why the Court held that fabrication could be proven without expert handwriting evidence, and the lessons the case offers for scrutinizing late-emerging wills.

In this episode of Hull on Estates, Natalia Angelini and Yalda Mostafaie discuss Smith v. Bechtel Estate, in which the Ontario Superior Court of Justice considered whether an unsigned draft will could be validated under section 21.1 of the Succession Law Reform Act. The episode explores the distinction between a deceased's expressed wishes and final testamentary intentions, and the Court's refusal to validate a draft will that had not been reviewed or approved by the deceased before his death.

In this, our 750th episode of Hull on Estates, Jonathon Kappy and Sofie Hector discuss Kunka Estate v. Giasson, 2026 ONSC 1842, a recent Ontario decision that provides important guidance on the application of the presumption of resulting trust to registered accounts with beneficiary designations. Join us as we unpack the Court's reasoning and the implications for estate planning and estate litigation practitioners.

This week on Hull on Estates, Nick Esterbauer and Mark Debono discuss the HELP-M Toolkit: Identifying and Responding to Family Violence and Power Imbalances in Mediative Approaches, some of its principles, and its application to mediation in estate litigation context. For more information, please refer to the Hull & Hull LLP blog post on this topic.

In this episode of Hull on Estates, Stuart Clark and Mandana Niknejad discuss the Ontario Superior Court's decision in Roberts v. Cowie and the evolving law surrounding limitation periods in will challenges. The discussion explores the distinction between probate proceedings and civil claims, the concepts of declaratory and consequential relief, and how Roberts v. Cowie may create a narrow pathway for certain will challenges to proceed beyond the two-year limitation period while considering the impact of earlier decisions such as Leibel v. Leibel and Wall v. Shaw. Citations for Cases Discussed: Roberts v. Cowie, 2026 ONSC 1412. Leibel v. Leibel, 2014 ONSC 4516. Wall v. Shaw, 2018 ONCA 929.