Case information

Wills and estates — Wills — Testamentary capacity and undue influence — Deceased made holograph codicil leaving estate to woman in another province — Application judge declaring codicil invalid on grounds of lack of proof of testamentary capacity and, alternatively, on basis of undue influence — Court of Appeal dismissing appeal, finding no reversible error in applying relevant legal principles or palpable and overriding error in the application judge’s factual findings — Whether Court of Appeal erred in its legal tests for suspicious circumstances, undue influence, and voiding testamentary capacity — Whether Court of Appeal erred in law regarding permitted uses of executors’ applications to courts for directions.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The deceased made a holograph codicil in which he left his entire estate to the applicant and revoked all of his previous wills, disinheriting his family. The application judge declared the codicil invalid on the grounds of failure to establish testamentary capacity and, in the alternative, on the basis of undue influence. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the applicant had not demonstrated any legal error in the application judge’s reasoning, nor identified any palpable and overriding error in the judge’s findings.