Wills, Trusts & Estates
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November 12, 2025
SCC denies requests by AGs & others to make in-person intervener arguments in historic case
The Supreme Court of Canada is denying recent requests from six intervener attorneys general — as well as counsel for The Advocates’ Society and dozens of other intervener groups — to allow them to make their arguments in person in the upcoming historic Bill 21 appeal, Law360 Canada has learned.
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November 10, 2025
Judicial vacancies hit 5%, threatening more trial delays and backlogs
Ottawa is lagging again in filling the country’s federal benches, hitting a five per cent vacancy rate on Nov. 1, 2025 — mostly in the critical trial courts of Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, which are constitutionally obliged to conduct trials within a reasonable time or face the prospect of staying criminal cases.
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November 07, 2025
Can celebrities lose the right to their voice?
Back in May 2024, actress Scarlett Johansson was embroiled in a legal dispute with OpenAI when the company released a voice for its ChatGPT assistant, “Sky,” which sounded strangely similar to her own. Johansson had previously declined an offer to voice the AI, and this alleged mimicry was done without her permission. OpenAI has since removed the “Sky” voice and paused its release, while the issues remain in dispute.
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November 05, 2025
New federal immigration levels plan cuts targets for permanent & new temporary resident admissions
Ottawa’s three-year plan to reduce immigration to “sustainable” levels includes new “one-time” initiatives to “recognize eligible Protected Persons in Canada as permanent residents over the next two years” and to “accelerate the transition of up to 33,000 work permit holders to permanent residency in 2026 and 2027.”
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October 30, 2025
Exclusive: Chief Justice Crampton reflects on Federal Court’s successes and ongoing challenges
As he steps down today from the diversified and expert bench he’s recruited over the past 14 years, Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton says he’s confident about the national trial court’s future, even though the full implementation of the court’s “digital shift” awaits the necessary funding from Ottawa.
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October 30, 2025
New Brunswick considering changes to Wills Act
New Brunswick is planning changes to legislation governing wills to give judges more room to interpret them, create greater clarity on the law by getting rid of old rules and allow 16-year-olds to officially document their last wishes.
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October 30, 2025
Business succession à la Hallmark
I love watching Hallmark romance movies. (Yes, I am a guy.) My wife and former associate, Maureen McKay, does not. They are too sickly sweet for her taste.
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October 30, 2025
Black magic and black letter: Legal tales of witchcraft, ghosts and haunted houses
It was not a dark and stormy night. It was actually a pleasant fall morning, and I probably should have been entering my dockets. But the Halloween spirit was in the air, and it moved me to see what Canadian law has to say about the occult. Read on if you dare. I promise there won’t be anything as frightening as the Income Tax Act.
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October 29, 2025
Commons committee invites public input on improving peace bonds, recognizance orders
A House of Commons committee is soliciting submissions by Nov. 28 to inform its new study of how the safety of women and children is affected by Canada’s bail and sentencing regimes, and how Criminal Code s. 810 (recognizance orders or peace bonds) can be improved to help keep women and children safe.
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October 29, 2025
The 99th anniversary of the Great Stork Derby
What if we told you having the most babies in a decade could make you a millionaire? In 1926, this wasn’t a hypothetical, it was the premise of one of the most bizarre contests in legal history.