CBC News
By Santiago Arias Orozco
May 26th, 2025
$500K estate of woman under care of public guardian will go to Winnipeg Foundation: Court finds note leaving only $1 to family and friends, written by woman who led ‘solitary life,’ is valid…
A Manitoba judge has ruled the estate of Minnie Blustein, a woman who died under the care of Manitoba’s public guardian and trustee in 2017, should be used to finance scholarships though an endowment fund at the Winnipeg Foundation.
A note written by a Winnipeg woman who was under the care of the public guardian and wished to leave the bulk of her estate to charity — and only $1 to any family or friends — has been accepted by a judge as her final will.
In a Manitoba Court of King’s Bench ruling, Justice Shawn Greenberg found there was “good reason” Minnie Blustein wanted her assets to go to charity, and ruled her estate, valued at about $500,000, will be used to create an endowment at the Winnipeg Foundation to fund scholarships in her family’s name.
Such rulings are “very rare,” a lawyer for the Winnipeg Foundation said.
In 2007, Blustein’s personal and financial decisions fell under the control of the public trustee, after she was deemed mentally incompetent by a doctor and had no one else to look after her. The Public Guardian and Trustee of Manitoba is an arm’s-length government agency that makes the personal and financial decisions for people deemed medically incompetent by a doctor.
