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Find Lawyers in Ontario, Canada for Trusts and Estates
Practice Area Overview
Wealth accumulation, preservation, and enjoyment may include the use of Trusts or corporate structures to split income or pass future growth to the next generation while preserving a client’s access to income and capital for financial security and personal philanthropy during their lifetime. Succession of wealth involves proper Will planning for the transfer of assets to surviving family members. This may include the administration of assets through testamentary Trusts to avoid premature vesting, or to take advantage of income splitting and asset protection opportunities, and the sharing of family wealth with favourite charities in a tax efficient manner. Trusts established during a client's lifetime, or through their Will, also may be of value when planning for the equitable distribution of assets among members of blended families or the care of minors and incapable adults, and to encourage the responsible transmission of wealth.
Trust and Estate administration services include assisting the personal representative to obtain Probate of a Will, or Letters of Administration if no Will is found, and advising as necessary on administrative responsibilities. This includes advice concerning the gathering of assets, payment of liabilities, the establishment of any trusts designated by the terms of a Will, and communicating with beneficiaries regarding accounting and distribution matters. It may include advice to individual or corporate executors and trustees relating to the administration of ongoing trusts or with regard to the interpretation and implementation of the trust terms. Trust and Estate lawyers will have the ability to advise and represent personal representatives, or estate beneficiaries, in all aspects of estate administration, and in the event a dispute arises, they will assist in resolving contentious matters.
Caroline Abela specializes in complex business and estate litigation matters. Focusing on commercial and corporate litigation and estates and trusts litigation, Caroline represents clients ranging from large corporations and institutions to small business owners and professionals. Caroline has appeared as counsel before all levels of courts in Ontario and the Federal Court of Canada. Caroline has been named in the Who’s Who Legal for Asset Recovery and in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Dire...
Ray Adlington is an experienced lawyer well versed in all areas of tax law. He has a robust practice with particular focus on corporate tax, commodity tax, and tax dispute resolution with the Canada Revenue Agency on behalf of taxpayers. Ray is a past four-year member of the joint Canadian Bar Association – CPA Canada Joint Committee on Taxation tasked with advising the Department of Finance (Canada) on tax policy and legislative drafting matters. He acts as counsel to private and publi...
Kristine founded Fern Law in 2023 and brings over 20 years of experience to her practice. She focuses on trusts and estate litigation as well as estate planning and the intersection of these two areas with family law. Kristine delivers effective and creative advice on estate matters, dependant support claims, power of attorney disputes and guardianship applications. In family law matters, Kristine focuses on elderly persons with capacity issues that may require advice and representation. Kris...
Lex Arbesman's journey into the legal field began early. As a young boy in Toronto, he penned "lawyer" in his grade five yearbook, a declaration that would shape his future. After completing an honours double major in History and Law at York University, Lex pursued his legal studies at Dalhousie Law School, earning the prestigious Milton and Carole Ehrlich Prize. Upon graduation, Lex returned to Toronto to embark on his legal career. A commitment to public service marked his early years as he...
Jordan is a Certified Specialists in Estates and Trusts Law and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada. Lexpert rates Jordan as one of its top recommended estate lawyers in Canada as well as being rated as a Best Lawyer in Canada. In addition to his planning and administration practice, Jordan is Senior Associate Counsel to Hull & Hull LLP and a senior mediator with Hull Estate Mediation Inc. He is a Past Chair of the Ontario Bar Association - Trust and ...
Risa is a partner at Torkin Manes. She focuses her practice on estate planning, including the preparation of wills, powers of attorney and trusts, and estate administration. Risa advises clients on strategies to minimize income tax and Estate Administration Tax and attends to the structuring and implementation of the plan.Risa works closely with the firm’s corporate and tax lawyers and the clients’ advisors in advising business owners with respect to business succession planning. ...
Karon Bales is a founding partner of Bales Beall LLP whose experience speaks for itself. Her practice is centred on family law, wills and estate issues. Her experience in trial and appellate advocacy in family law and estate matters is extensive, particularly with those involving partnerships, business corporations and commercial issues. Karon also provides sound guidance with estate administration and planning, domestic and off-shore trusts, and succession planning for owners of family busin...
Maureen Berry’s practice is focused on wills, estate planning, domestic and international trusts, private corporation taxation, and executive compensation. Maureen also advises charities and non-profit organizations. Working with Canadian and international families, firms, corporations and charitable organizations, she provides advice on all aspects of private client matters, including inter vivos trust and will planning, post-mortem planning, donation planning, as well as succession pl...
Howard’s practice focuses on estate litigation, in-person and online mediation and arbitration of estates disputes, and all aspects of estate planning and administration. In addition to a busy estate litigation and mediation practice, Howard advises on wills and powers of attorney to middle and high net-worth individuals. Howard is passionate about the law. He has been Adjunct Professor of the Estates and Estate Litigation courses at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto since 1992, and ha...
With more than 30 years of knowledge and experience, Don provides guidance to family-owned businesses and high net worth individuals in Ottawa and the surrounding region. His areas of practice include corporate law, wills, trusts, and succession planning, with a primary focus on the creation of tax-effective structures for the accumulation and transfer of wealth. Clients appreciate his accessibility, judgment, quality of work, and proactive approach in addressing their needs. Don studied math...
Clare Burns is a senior trusts and estates litigator. She served as the Children's Lawyer for the Province of Ontario from 2003 to 2008 pursuant to an Order-in-Council appointment. As the Children's Lawyer, Clare's office was responsible to investigate, advocate, protect and represent persons under the age of 18 in proceedings before the courts and tribunals of Ontario. In this role, she supervised more than 11,000 cases including variations of trust, will challenges, passings of accounts, gu...
John Campbell practises taxation law, advising clients on domestic and international income tax issues, with a focus on advising Canadian clients with international interests and non-Canadian clients with Canadian interests. John has extensive experience with respect to the tax implications and structuring of corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, international tax planning and tax planning using trusts. He provides his clients with effective, practical tax advice based on his e...
Laura provides passionate and dedicated representation for clients who find themselves faced with death, financial vulnerability, or capacity concerns. Laura first became interested in estates law while clerking at the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto, where she worked on a variety of estates matters, from routine probate applications to more complex disputes. Since her call to the bar in 2015, Laura has practiced exclusively in the area of estates, trusts and capacity litigation, and has re...
Angela is a fierce advocate for people affected by death and diminished mental capacity. Her professional peers voted to recognize her as one of Canada’s leading lawyers for estate litigation in Lexpert magazine. Her clients appreciate Angela’s ability to tell their story in a compelling way, and her “committed, supportive work” on their behalf. Her clients include trust companies, charities, government agencies, the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, individuals a...
Kelly Charlebois is a tenacious advocate who specializes in estates and trusts litigation. She persuasively and effectively advances her clients’ interests and achieves positive and cost-effective results for them in a broad range of areas. Kelly's clients praise her strategic approach to handling their files. Kelly has particular expertise in matters relating to estates, trusts, and fiduciary and capacity-related proceedings. Kelly has successfully represented individuals, institutions...
Jessica is a partner at Bales Beall LLP whose practice is devoted to advising Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters. This work includes drafting Wills, trusts, and Powers of Attorney and providing guidance to executors and beneficiaries. In addition to legal work, Jessica is actively involved in the community. She was a member of the trusts and estates executive of the Ontario Bar Association for many years and currently sits on the programming committ...
Brian Cohen is a partner and lawyer in Gowling WLG’s global Private Client Services Group. Based in Toronto, he assists clients in the areas of estate planning, trusts and personal taxation, with a focus on advising high net worth individuals on succession planning alternatives. Brian also advises donors, charitable organizations, public and private foundations, and not-for-profit organizations regarding the tax implications of formation, registration, governance and planned giving stra...
Bob brings a rare combination of talents to his clients’ real estate and estate planning objectives by drawing on his wealth of legal experience, results-oriented approach, and formidable negotiation skills. Dedicated to providing the highest level of service to his clients - something seldom seen these days - Bob’s clients trust him to provide timely, pragmatic solutions to their legal and business concerns. Major commercial real estate investors acquiring and selling apartment b...
Jennifer Corak advises Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters, including Will and probate planning, taxation in relation to estates and trusts, planning with inter vivos trusts, incapacity planning, and estate administration. She has particular experience with cross-border and international estate planning, including dealing with high and ultra-high net worth individuals with assets in multiple jurisdictions, individuals who are nationals and/or tax res...
Nicole D’Aoust is a partner specializing in charity and not-for-profit law. She has particular expertise advising private clients on the structuring and implementation of legacy, philanthropic, and planned giving matters. This includes structuring private foundations as trusts and corporations, advising on gifts of cash, shares, real estate, and other types of property, drafting gift agreements, and advising on operational matters such as governance, financial statements, gifting to qua...
Justin is the Principal of de VRIES LITIGATION LLP. Justin was a partner at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (now Dentons LLP) and a partner and counsel at Hull & Hull LLP. He is the founder of allaboutestates.ca; a popular collaborative blog on estate and trust matters. Justin is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the Advocates’ Society, the Estate Planning Council of Toronto, and the Estate Planners’ Council of Halton. He has consistently been named ...
Brendan is co-founder of Donovan Kochman LLP, a boutique law firm focused on estate and trusts litigation in Ontario. Brendan represents clients on all estates and trusts matters, including will challenges, will interpretations, dependant’s support claims, breach of trust claims, contested applications to pass accounts, and the removal of trustees. Brendan also represents clients in capacity litigation, including contested powers of attorney and guardianship litigation. His clients incl...
The majority of Lou-Anne Farrell’s 35-year legal career has been restricted to estate litigation and related disputes. She provides effective and efficient representation to clients dealing with will challenges, spousal and dependent’s claims, passings of accounts, removal of trustees, breach of trust claims, interpretation and rectification claims, and POA and guardianship disputes. She is also a trained mediator with over a decade of experience mediating estate-related disputes....
While working for a broad range of clients, Harold covers numerous facets of tax practice, including personal and corporate income tax planning, estate planning, goods and services tax, sales and land taxes, international tax, tax litigation, and dispute resolution. He acts on a wide variety of corporate transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, share and asset purchases, corporate reorganizations, and leveraged buyouts. In addition, he helps establish employee profit sharing and stock ...
Nimali has had a long-held interest in issues relating to health, disability and aging. Yet after graduating from law school in 1999, she articled at a full-service firm where there was little exposure to the issues that interested her. She was so disillusioned with the practise of law at that time that she thought she might leave it all together to become a VJ at Much Music (which seemed like a reasonable exit strategy at the time). Fortunately for Nimali and her future clients, she did not ...
Jan Goddard entered law school with an interest in working with elderly persons and their legal issues, but over 30 years ago the term ‘elder law’ did not even exist. So Jan made her own path to the law practice she has today. Along the way, she served for 10 years as counsel at the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee in Ontario, obtained a certificate in gerontology from Ryerson University and a mediation certificate from Osgoode Hall Law School, and founded and developed t...
Linda is a partner at Torkin Manes and chairs the firm's Not-for-Profit and Charities Law practice group. She counsels a wide range of not-for-profit organizations and charities (including charitable organizations and private and public foundations). Her clients include professional and industry associations, self-regulated bodies and organizations in such fields as religion, health, education, social services, poverty abatement, childcare, athletics and recreation.Linda acts as external gene...
Joanne is Counsel in Minden Gross LLP's Wills and Estates Group where she focuses on a wide range of estate, trust, and personal tax planning matters. She has significant experience advising high net worth clients, entrepreneurs, professionals, and private companies on an array of estate and trust planning issues. Alongside preparing wills for clients, Joanne also advises on powers of attorney for personal care and property, establishing testamentary trusts, and estate planning and administra...
Wendy Griesdorf was called to the Ontario Bar in 1995 and practised estate litigation at Brian A. Schnurr & Associates in Toronto until 2001 when she was appointed adjunct professor and director of career services at Osgoode Hall Law School. Wendy moved to Kingston Ontario in 2004 where she established her own firm in estate litigation and mediation. Wendy is a retired deputy judge of the small claims court and retired sessional faculty of Queen's. Most of Wendy's current practice consist...
Robert Hayhoe is a leading adviser in the charities and non-profit sector in Canada. Certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a specialist in Tax Law, Robert provides both general counsel and specialized tax advice to charities and not-for-profit organizations across Canada. Robert advises clients on the tax law governing charitable registration and non-profit status. He has experienced dealing with the complex law governing foreign expenditures and activities by Canadian charities, and wit...
Executive Summary As a partner in the Tax and Estate Planning Group, Lindsay practises in the area of personal tax and estate planning, estate administration and estate litigation. She regularly advises her clients on a wide range of matters including wills, trusts, domestic contracts, powers of attorney, mental incompetency proceedings, court audits, estate and trust taxation and post-mortem estate planning. Lindsay has lectured extensively on tax and estate planning at the Canada Tax Confer...
M. Elena Hoffstein, FEA, has a practice focused in all areas of estate planning, family business succession planning, corporate reorganization both pre and post mortem planning. She also advises on cross border and international matters, will, trusts and marriage contracts. Elena is also a recognized leader in charity law advising both charities and donors on effective legislative, tax and regulatory matters and on tax effective charitable gifting. Elena frequently advises clients on family b...
Emily Hubling assists clients in fulfilling their unique estate-planning and wealth management objectives, through the use of Wills, Powers of Attorney, Trusts, and Domestic Contracts. Emily works closely with clients’ advisors to provide a holistic approach to planning. Emily also has experience in advising estate trustees in administering a range of complex estate matters, including intestacies, cross-border matters, and contested estates. Emily is an active member of the Toronto Esta...
Ian Hull co-founded the firm with his father, Rodney Hull, in 1998. Ian also maintains a mediation practice through Hull Estate Mediation Inc. Ian is a lecturer at the Ontario Bar Admission Course and guest lecturer for the Canadian Bar Association and the Law Society of Upper Canada. Ian is also the author of numerous articles and has written four books on estate law issues. All books and articles can be found on our website .
Adam began his legal career articling with a law firm on Bay Street. After articling, Adam worked with several boutique firms, initially working more broadly in the civil litigation field, then narrowing his focus to estates litigation, planning, and administration. As well as estates matters, Adam also practices immigration law, specifically focused on inadmissibility and enforcement issues in Canada. Adam obtained a B.A. (honours) from York University, then his J.D. from the University of W...
Pia Hundal is a partner in Miller Thomson LLP's Litigation and Dispute Resolution group, with a practice that focuses on estate and trust litigation, including will challenges, will interpretation, passing of accounts applications, dependent’s support claims, power of attorney disputes, guardianships, trust litigation and alternative dispute resolution. Pia also acts as a mediator in estates disputes. Prior to joining Miller Thomson LLP, Pia practiced family law, estates and civil litig...
Joan is a Partner in Minden Gross LLP's Tax Group and has extensive experience in domestic and international tax planning. Both highly detailed and experienced, Joan has the unique ability to see the big picture while drilling down to the finest points of a client's needs. Joan chose tax as her specialty for its analytical nature. In tax, the rules are always changing and Joan really enjoys the challenge of keeping up-to-date. Joan is a frequent lecturer for professional and commercial organi...
Jacob began his legal career at one of the world’s largest law firms, practicing in the areas of estate and commercial litigation. He then focused exclusively on estate litigation at a well-known boutique firm, eventually becoming a partner, before joining Donovan Kochman LLP. Jacob has acted as section 3 counsel and appeared before various levels of court, including the Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. He is a knowledgeable and tenacious advocate who striv...
Noah Kochman is a founding partner at Donovan Kochman LLP. His practice is focused on estates and trusts litigation as well as commercial litigation matters in Ontario. He regularly represents clients before the Court in power of attorney disputes, dependant support claims, will challenges, and other complex estates and trusts disputes. He is a fierce advocate for his clients in the courtroom, a skilled negotiator, and a thoughtful advisor. Noah's professional peers voted to recognize Noah as...
Vern Krishna is Tax Counsel at TaxChambers LLP and Professor of Common Law at the University of Ottawa. Professor Krishna is a national expert in the area of tax, the author of over fifteen texts in tax, international tax, business law, numerous articles and case comments. His work is often cited by the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Krishna's practice is comprised of tax litigation and dispute resolution, international tax, tax planning and wealth management. He acts as counsel in income...
Jonathan Lancaster’s litigation practice is focused on corporate commercial litigation, commercial real estate litigation, lease arbitrations, banking law, product liability litigation, professional negligence and estate litigation. Jonathan has a broad commercial real estate and estate litigation practice. Acting successfully as counsel in Ontario cases, Jonathan has advised on a broad array of real estate litigation issues, including mortgagee and tenant rights/priorities, rights of f...
Shaun practises corporate commercial litigation, including shareholder and partnership disputes, fraud cases, franchise litigation, estate litigation and real estate disputes. He is an experienced trial and appellate counsel and has successfully represented clients before all levels of court in Ontario, as well as before administrative and arbitral tribunals. Shaun also has extensive experience with fast-moving cases involving Mareva and injunctive relief. Shaun is a member of the Commercial ...
Joanna is a partner at de VRIES LITIGATION LLP with extensive experience in estates, trusts, and capacity litigation. Joanna has a keen interest in issues regarding will challenges, dependant’s support, and power of attorney disputes. She has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court and the Ontario Court of Appeal. Joanna obtained her law degree from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at McGill University. Joanna was called to...
David M. Lobl is a partner and litigation lawyer in Gowling WLG’s global Private Client Services Group. Based in Toronto, his practice is focused on litigious estate, trust and capacity matters, including estate administration, fiduciary, estate and capacity litigation and alternative dispute resolution. Recognized for his trusts and estates expertise by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and Best Lawyers in Canada, David represents trust companies, government agencies, guardians of p...
Darren Lund’s practice is focused on a range of estate planning, estate administration, and private client service matters. Darren regularly assists clients with complex multiple will planning, family trusts, alter ego and joint partner trusts, marriage contracts, business succession, estate freezes, charitable gift and tax planning, planning for individuals with disabilities, cross-border planning, powers of attorney, and estate planning aspects of assisted reproduction and posthumous ...
Lucy E. Main advises Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters, including drafting estate planning documents, establishing private charitable foundations for individuals and families, helping with the administration of estates, assisting in the setting up and maintenance of trusts and providing support to litigators in contentious matters. In 2016 she was awarded the Hoffstein Book Prize by the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) for her contributions to these a...
As a senior partner and past lead of the Social Impact Group at Miller Thomson, Susan Manwaring is a recognized expert advising social enterprises, charities and non-profits in her practice. Susan is considered a trailblazing thought leader in the charitable sector and is regularly called upon to advise charities and non-profit organizations on compliance and taxation matters under the Income Tax Act, as well as other relevant provincial tax regulations. Susan was a member of the Canadian Rev...
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Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.