Continuing Legal Education: Estate Litigation Basics 2010

The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia is presenting a course for lawyers on Estate Litigation Basics at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, B.C. on October 8, 2010 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

I am going to be speaking on "Challenging Inter Vivos Transfers and Beneficiary Designations."

The course agenda is as follows:

Welcome and Introduction
Amy D. Francis — Legacy Tax +Trusts Lawyers, Vancouver

View From the Bench
The Honourable Madam Justice N. Victoria Gray — Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver

Contested Committeeships
•medical evidence
•views of the proposed patient
•costs
•Adult Guardianship Act
Chelsea D. Wilson — Ramsay Lampman Rhodes, Nanaimo
Networking Break

Challenging Inter Vivos Transfers and Beneficiary Designations
•incapacity
•undue influence
•resulting trusts
•secret trusts
•constructive trusts
•fraudulent conveyance
Stanley T. Rule — Sabey Rule LLP, Kelowna

Construction of Wills

•armchair rule
•Doctrine of Cy-pres
•unborn contingent beneficiaries
•costs

Edward F. Macaulay — Edward F. Macaulay Law Corporation, Vancouver

Lunch (on your own)

Wills Variation Act
•history and overview of the Wills Variation Act
•balancing competing claims between spouses and children
•costs awards in Wills Variation Act cases
Amy A. Mortimore — Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver

Practicing Estate Litigation: Expert Panel
•managing estate clients and their expectations
•organizing an estate case to avoid conflicts and negligence
•addressing practice challenges unique to estate litigation
Roger D. Lee — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Helen H. Low — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Megan Swail — Lawyers Insurance Fund, Law Society of BC, Vancouver

Networking Break

Probate Actions and the Rules of Court
•challenges to the validity of a will
•impact of the new Civil Rules
•costs in probate actions
M. Scott Kerwin — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver

Dealing With the Problem Executor
•duties of executors—accounting requirements
•strategies to resolve disputes without a hearing
•the Registrar’s hearing—what to expect
Kimberly-Anne Kuntz — Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP, Vancouver

The course is being presented both live and by webnar. There will be video repeats throughout the province. For information on registration, check the CLE website here.