The recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in Bellefeuille v Bellefeuille, 2018 ONSC 6802, provides useful guidance as to the circumstances in which a court may terminate an individual’s power of attorney and is an important reminder that simply substituting one’s own decision-making analysis over another’s finances is not what the law expects of an attorney for property. It is much more.

The Supreme Court of Canada rendered the Moore v Sweet decision on November 23, 2018.1 The Hon. Madam Justice Côté delivered the judgement, with Wagner C.J., Abella, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Brown, and Martin JJ. concurring.

In Rikhye v. Rikhye, Justice Bloom addresses the question of whether a non-party may be allowed to attend a cross-examination as a moral support person for an alleged victim of elder abuse.

The Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues published an article in 2014 titled Sexual Expression In Long-Term Care Homes: Consent & Capacity which provides elder law practitioners with some insight into the issue of sexual expression in long-term care homes.

Seniors – defined as those aged 65 and over – currently make up approximately 15 per cent of the population; it is projected that by 2036 that percentage will have increased to approximately one quarter of the population. As the number of seniors in Canada continues to rise, so too do concerns about abuse of older adults, whether that abuse be physical, psychological, or financial.

John Hollander, a litigator with McBride Bond Christian LLP, looks at the issues elderly trustees face when undertaking substantial trust responsibilities; specifically examining how lawyers should advise such clients and how lawyers should advise beneficiaries when the elderly trustee appears not to be discharging the duties of the office.

Lawyers working with older adults may be asked to advise clients on the protocol for consenting to a physician’s disclosure of information. Genevieve Giroday of Giroday Law looks at the rules surrounding the release of personal health information.

In a paper presented to the 17th annual STEP National Conference in Toronto in June, Kimberley Whaley reviews the conditions required to create a valid gift, grounds for attacking or setting aside inter vivos gifts or wealth transfers, and recent relevant case law.

Bed-blocker and silver tsunami are more than words talking about people who can’t leave hospital for reasons other than acute care needs, or the catastrophic effect retiring baby boomers will have on the economy – they’re emblematic of a societal lack of respect and regard for the elderly. Words hurt people and they have a carry-through effect on the treatment those people receive.

When is undue influence being exerted on a person drafting a will? It can be hard to tell whether the drafter had “testamentary capacity” at the time. Kimberly Whaley looks at a case in point, and notes red flags to watch out for.