Family
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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
Bill C-223: Bad ideas on child relocation
Bill C-223 is a private member’s bill to amend the Divorce Act brought forward by Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner, with the help of the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL). Not enough lawyers and other family law professionals know about the bill or its contents. Bill C-223 is mostly about family violence and parenting. Some provisions about relocation have been tacked on, which I’ll cover here.
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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.
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October 29, 2025
Guardianship applications: Navigating the thoroughfares of the SDA
The Substitute Decisions Act outlines the steps needed to appoint a guardian in a variety of circumstances. The appointment of a guardian under the Act may become necessary if a person becomes incapable without having already executed a power of attorney appointing someone to make decisions on their behalf during their incapacity. In other cases, an incapable person may have already executed a POA, but the attorney, for whatever reason, is no longer suitable.
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October 28, 2025
Quebec Superior Court launches AI pilot project
The Superior Court of Quebec has given the green light to a sandboxed pilot project that allows some 20 judges to use artificial intelligence to help them with documentary and legislative research, translations and draft judgments. But the initiative draws the line at decision-making or deliberative undertakings, a conservative approach that has earned plaudits from legal observers.
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October 28, 2025
B.C. expanding reach of domestic violence intervention programs with federal funds
British Columbia is expanding the reach of its domestic violence intervention programs as part of a bilateral agreement with the federal government. The province has announced it is providing $750,000 in federal funding to support access to new and expanded programs that support healthy relationships and prevent domestic violence through community-led intervention services.
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October 28, 2025
Kennedy Morrow joins McDougall Gauley in Saskatoon
McDougall Gauley LLP has welcomed Kennedy (Keni) Morrow to its Saskatoon office, effective Oct. 27.
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October 28, 2025
Estate trustee during litigation: The power to make payments from residue of estate
In Ontario, an estate trustee during litigation (ETDL) does not have the power to distribute the residue of an estate, despite having all the rights and powers of a general administrator: see s. 28 of the Estates Act. However, this rule does not mean that an ETDL cannot make payments from the residue of an estate.