Trusts, Gifts and Family Law
August 14, 2020 By Brian Babcock It is important to know whether a transfer of property within a family is intended to be a gift or to create a trust. In particular, this can have significant impact on division of property in family law. The recent Court of Appeal case of Kent v. Kent began as […]
Family Law 101: Dos and Do NOTs of Family Litigation for the Uninitiated
August 14, 2020 By Margaret Waddington Do: Start a calendar or journal. Keeping track of who had care of the kids and when or where different events happened as close to the time is occurred as possible means that your memory will be fresher and you will have a record of events to support your […]
Reasonable Notice and Successor Employers
August 10, 2020 By Brian Babcock Workers who are terminated without cause are entitled to reasonable notice of termination. If adequate notice is not given, they may sue for wrongful dismissal. The court determines reasonable notice based upon the character of the employment, years of service of the employee, the age of the employee and the […]
Disgorgement of Ill-Gotten Gains
August 10, 2020 By Brian Babcock What is your remedy if someone breaches a duty to you that earns them a profit, but which causes you no losses? Or your losses are impractical to prove or measure? You might think that after hundreds of years, our legal system already has neat answers to these sort of […]
Moral Damages for Wrongful Termination of Employment
July 30, 2020 By Brian Babcock Traditionally, if you were fired without cause (“wrongfully dismissed”), you could collect damages equal to pay in lieu of notice (because no job is guaranteed indefinitely, all your employer owes you is reasonable notice) plus perhaps some modest amounts for lost benefits, retraining, moving expenses or the like. On the […]
Commercial Real Estate Deals that Don’t Close
July 30, 2020 By Brian Babcock When a real estate deal does not close, you may sue for damages, or claim specific performance. The purpose of specific performance is to provide the you with the result that the contract contemplated – that is, the property. The goal in a remedy for breach of contract is to […]
What is a trust?
July 29, 2020 By Brian Babcock Every time I tell someone I will be teaching Trusts in January, I get the question back, “What is Trusts?” Since Trusts are an important part of everyday life, and not just for lawyers, I thought I ought to post an answer. The origins of trusts date back to before […]
Commercial Tenancies: Notice to Terminate
July 29, 2020 By Brian Babcock Ontario’s Commercial Tenancies Act requires that a landlord give their tenant written notice to terminate a lease. In particular, section 19(2) states that: A right of re-entry or forfeiture under any proviso or stipulation in a lease for a breach of any covenant or condition in the lease, other than […]
Contempt and the Enforcement of Orders
July 29, 2020 By Brian Babcock Obtaining a judgment or court order is only the first step toward satisfaction. The order must still be acted upon or enforced. In Ontario, the Rules of Civil Procedure provide several mechanisms for collecting on a money judgment. These are distinct from the mechanism for enforcing an order for something […]
So You’re an Estate Trustee, Now What?
July 22, 2020 By Margaret Waddington This article provides a brief introduction to your role as Estate Trustee. An Estate Trustee was formerly known as an Executor or Executrix. You may have become an Estate Trustee because you were named in a Will. If there was no Will, an application can be made to the […]