By Lisa Laredo | Laredo Law
on August 30th, 2024
If you think losing your keys is frustrating, spare a thought for the children of an Ontario woman who are still fighting over their mother’s missing will, years after her death.
Having gone to the trouble of drafting her will, the woman at the heart of the case probably thought she had done enough to ensure her wishes were met regarding her modest estate, valued at around $175,000, held mostly in the form of GICs.
However, her good work was undone somewhere along the line between 2011 – when the will was executed – and her death in 2020, as the document itself disappeared, leaving only a copy for the beneficiaries to go on.
One of her daughters, who was named the sole beneficiary of the 2011 will, is currently seeking to probate the copy. In order to succeed, she will not only have to overcome the objections of her siblings, but also the “presumption of revocation” – a legal doctrine that means a lost will is presumed to have been destroyed by the testator if it was known to be in their possession.
Four years on from their mother’s death, the siblings’ case is nowhere near finished and I dread to think how much it has cost them in legal fees just to get this far. By the time this lost will litigation is settled, there may not be much left to fight over.
If you want your heirs to avoid the same fate, you need to make sure your will can be found by your chosen executor when the time comes for it to go into effect, as locating the deceased person’s original will and any codicils is one of the key tasks assigned to the executor of an estate.
Lisa Laredo, Founder and Principal at Laredo Law
