Toronto law firms can help answer your legal questions, facilitate your transaction (e.g. business, real estate, wills and estates, family, etc.) or even represent you in court.  To find a Toronto lawyer or law firm, go to Dynamic Lawyers and make a post.  It’s free and anonymous and Toronto lawyers and law firms will respond to you with information and quotes for you to compare.

Here are some of the different types of law that Toronto law firms can assist you in:

• Accidents and Injuries: Involved in an accident where you suffered personal injury?
• Business: Need corporate or commercial agreements? Need to have a lawyer help you do a transaction?
• Charities and Not-For-Profit: Need to establish a Not-For-Profit corporation or obtain charity status?
• Civil Litigation – Higher Court: Have a serious legal claim that needs to be litigated in the Superior Court, Divisional Court, etc.?
• Civil Litigation – Small Claims Court: Have a legal claim (e.g. breach of contract, negligence, etc.) for less than $10,000?
• Constitutional / Human Rights and Freedoms: Challenging a law or government action / inaction?
  Criminal: Charged with a criminal offence? Appealing a conviction?
• Employment and Labour: Need an employment agreement? Unjustly terminated? Need to know your rights?
• Family: Going through a separation or divorce? Fighting to get custody or access? Dealing with spousal and child support?
• Government: Need to lobby the government? Need to resolve a dispute with a government agency?
• Highway Traffic Tickets: Charged with speeding or DUI? Need to fight traffic tickets?
• Immigration: Need to immigrate to Canada? Fighting against deportation?
• Insurance: Having difficulties with your Insurance company?.
• Intellectual Property: Need to register a copyright or trademark? Need help with a patent?
• Landlord and Tenant: Need a resolve a dispute? Need to know your rights?.
• Notary Public / Commissioner: Need to notarize or commission your documents?
• Real Estate: Need someone to facilitate your residential or commercial purchase, sale, or lease?
• Tax: Need help structuring your tax affairs? Need help resolving tax disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency?
• Wills, Estates and Trusts: Need a will? Need to update your will? Find out why having an up-to-date will is a must.

Try to consult with a couple of Toronto law firms and Toronto attorneys until you’re comfortable with whom you’re speaking with.  Toronto law firms differ in size, location, expertise, and reputation.  Go to Dynamic Lawyers and save time and money finding the right Toronto law firms and Toronto attorneys who specialize in the legal area you require!

written by admin \\ tags: accident, accidents, agreement, attorneys, breach, breach of contract, charity status, Civil Litigation, commercial agreements, commissioners, company intellectual property, contracts, conviction, corpor, corporation, court, criminal, criminal offence, custody, different, different types of law, divisional court, family, firms, government need, human rights and freedoms, injuries, injury, insurance, landlord and tenant, law, lawyer, lawyers, legal claim, litigants, litigation, money, negligence, notarize, notary, offence, publicity, purchaser, quotes, separation, small claims court, support government, toronto, toronto law firms, toronto lawyer, toronto lawyers, traffic, types of law, Wills and Estates

Toronto Attorneys and Toronto Lawyers: go to Dynamic Lawyers to make a post of your legal issue(s) and have Toronto Attorneys and Toronto Lawyers respond with information and quotes.

What’s the difference between “Attorney”  and “Lawyer”?  Well, in Ontario, people who have studied law in law school, passed the Bar Admissions test, and have been called to the Bar of Ontario are called different things to different people.  The Law Society of Upper Canada calls them licensees.  In court, judges call them counsel.  Their clients call them their lawyer or attorney.  And they call themselves barristers and solicitors.  So what do all of these things mean?  Basically, they all come to mean the same thing, with a few minor comments about the differences between a barrister and solicitor.

A lawyer is the normal thing we call persons learned in the law and licensed to practice law.  An attorney works too, but this is more Americanized for some reason (at least in my humble experience).  Counsel means the same thing as a lawyer or attorney, but is used less often – lest some people confuse the lawyer with some type of counselor or consultant (unless the term legal counsel is used).

The distinction between a barrister and a solicitor is interesting and worthy of a few words here.  Toronto attorneys are both capable of calling themselves barristers and solicitors.  In other jurisdictions, lawyers may be one or the other but not both.  The word barrister, in its deep-rooted English traditions, comes from those who are called to bar and who advocate for their clients before courts and tribunals.  This is to be distinguished from solicitors, who typically are engaged by clients to do contractual work and facilitate transactions (e.g. business, real estate, wills and estates, family, etc.).

For more information about the differences between barristers and solicitors, check out what Wikipedia has to say.

written by admin \\ tags: attorneys, bar admissions, barrister and solicitor, barristers and solicitors, court, courts and tribunals, engagements, family, judges, jurisdiction, law, law society of upper canada, lawyer, lawyers, ontario barristers, quotes, s, toronto, toronto attorneys, toronto lawyers, toronto yers, wikipedia

Please note that the information provided herein is not legal advice and is provided for informational and educational purposes only.   If you need legal advice with respect to retaining a personal injury lawyer, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto personal injury lawyers registered on the website who can assess your situation and, if need be, represent you in court proceedings or help settle your case.

Personal Injury Lawyers in Toronto: who are they?
A personal injury lawyer is trained to represent parties (e.g. individuals, corporations, partnerships, etc.) in a civil dispute.   In civil cases, unlike criminal cases (where the state or government is the party that is prosecuting an accused person), one or more parties sue each other and the state is typically not a party to the proceedings.

What Toronto Personal Injury Lawyers can do for you
Some of the things which personal injury lawyers in Toronto can assist you in include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Determining and advising you on your rights and whether you have a claim (e.g. for damages, for declaratory relief, for an injunction, for equitable remedies, etc.).
2. Explain the civil law process from the time you believe a claim arises through to trial, and finally to a court order and (perhaps) appealing a court order (if it gets there).
3. Negotiating with the opposing counsel to reach a settlement.
4. At trial, challenge witness’ credibility and testimony.
5. At trial, present expert evidence in the form of expert testimony and reports that are favourable to their client.
6. At trial, point out past cases (called precedents) that are in their client’s favour and draw analogies and parallels, while trying to distinguish unfavourable precedents.
7. At trial, protect their clients from answering inappropriate or irrelevant questions (e.g. questions that would tend to self-incriminate a party, questions which have nothing to do with the trial, or questions which makes the party give testimony which they are not competent or otherwise qualified to give, etc.).

The onus of proof
In Ontario civil trials, parties must generally establish the elements of their case on a balance of probabilities.  This means 50% + 1 %.  Hence, to establish that a party was negligence or breached a contract, it must establish that that party was more likely than not to have done so.   If, however, the elements of the offence are established, then a judge or jury may still find no liability or reduce damages accordingly if the other party had some type of justifcation or excuse (e.g. undue influence, duress, etc.).

When to consult with or hire a Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer?
Immediately on becoming aware of the fact that you have been injured or suffered damages, you should consult with a personal injury lawyer in Toronto.  They can help take away your stress by explaining the law (e.g. your rights, your obligations, your entitlements, etc.), helping to formulate a proper strategy, and telling you about how the civil law process works from start to finish.  Again, if you need legal advice with respect to retaining a Toronto personal injury lawyer, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).

written by admin \\ tags: accidents and accidents lawyer, court, damages, injuries, injury, judges, lawyer, lawyers, negligence, negotiating, Negotiations, partnership, personalToronto personal injury, report, toronto

If you have been in an accident or suffered an injury, you may need to find a Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer.  Go to Dynamic Lawyers and make a post.

This is not legal advice.  This information is being provided for educational and informational purposes only.  If you require a lawyer, you should seek professional help (e.g. by making a post on Dynamic Lawyers).

In this blog, I’ll be discuss the basis elements of the law of negligence in Ontario as it related to personal injuries and accidents.  Please bear in mind, however, that the law of personal injury encompasses more than negligence and tort law: there are statutory benefit regimes, breaches of contract, breaches of consumer protection legislation, etc.  But, for the purposes of this post, I’ll narrow my focus to the law of personal injury as it pertains to suing a party for negligence.

Duty of Care
Not everyone who is careless will be liable.  It first depends on whether that party owed the injured party a duty to take care in all of the circumstances.  This so-called “duty of care” is a legal obligation on an party to adhere to a standard of care (discussed next), the breach of which may create liability for that party.  One example of the duty of care in everyday life is the duty that motorists owe to other motorists on the road.  Another example is the duty that care givers owe to their patients.  Basically, for a duty of care to exist and impose liability on a party,the risk of injury must be reasonably foreseeable to the specific injured party.  To determine if a duty of care exists, Ontario court may (among other factors) look at how close the parties were to each other, whether such a duty exists in other jurisdictions, and whether it makes sense for other reasons (e.g. economic, fairness, efficiency, deterrent, etc.) to impose such a duty.

Standard of Care
Once a duty of care has been found to exist on a party, their conduct (i.e. actions or omissions) will be examined to determine if they met the standard of care required of them in the circumstances.  Generally, parties are held to a standard of care that would be expected of a reasonable person of ordinary intelligence and prudence in their circumstances.  This means that children will typically be held to lower standards while doctors will be held to higher standards (and specialists will be held to even higher standards).  In the commercial context, things like industry standards and customs will be relevant in determining whether a party has breached the standard of care.

Causation
Even if a party owed a duty of care and breached the standard of care required, they may not be liable if their negligence did not cause the injuries complained of.  The general rule in Ontario is: ‘but for’ the party’s negligence (in other words, if the party’s negligence did not exist), would the injured party have suffered his/her/its damages and injuries?  Here, the injured party must demonstrate that, more likely than not, the party’s conduct was necessary for the occurrence of the injuries.  Hence, if it cannot be ascertained as probable that the party’s negligence caused the injuries complained of, then the negligent party may not be ultimately liable.

Remoteness
Even if a party owed a duty of care, breaches the standard of care, and caused the complaining party’s damages, that party may still not be liable if those damages were too remote.  This means that the negligent party is only liable for damages so long as the type of injury suffered was foreseeable as a probable consequence of the negligent act or was reasonably foreseeable as a real possibility.  The idea behind this rule is that it would be unfair to make a negligent party bear all of the consequences of his/her/it’s carelessness – especially when a moment’s inadvertence results in trivial or freakish consequences.

Defences
Even if a party is negligent (based on all of the factors outlined above being met), they may still have a defence that will either limit or negate their liability entirely.  Such defence include contribution (i.e. the injured party contributed to their own injuries), voluntary assumption of risk (e.g. the injured party had signed a waiver of liability in favour of the other party) or illegality (e.g. the injured party was doing something illegal at the time).

written by admin \\ tags: accident, accidents, causation, court, damages, defences, defense duty of care, injuries, injury, law personaldefense, lawyer, lawyers, negligence, personal lawyer, Personal Injury, remoteness, standard of care, toronto, Toronto personal injury voluntary assumption of risk

In this week’s Law Times, Robert Todd interviewed Toronto family law lawyer Robert Berman about his website, MyOntarioDivorce.com.  The website helps self-represented litigants in divorce matters (of which there are many) obtain low-cost and automatically-generated court forms for divorce cases.

Berman came up with the idea about a year and a half ago while observing how self-represented litigants who couldn’t afford lawyers were being treated in court by judges and court staff.  He envisioned a free website full of information and links to help every day people get help about the divorce process and relevant family law legislation.

After hiring a computer programmer and spending over $100,000, the website officially launched in mid-february this year.  The response has been “overwhelming” according to Bermann.  The website allows individuals to pay anywhere from $100 to $850 / month to fill out an online questionaire and generate court-forms (e.g. motions, reply, conference briefs, etc.).  According to Berman, the same service from a lawyer would cost from $2,500 to $4,000.

Berman – a longstanding family law lawyer who practices out of his firm, Berman Barristers – is crusading for better access to justice in the family law arena through the unbundling of legal services (which I have previously blogged about).

written by admin \\ tags: barristers, briefs, computer programmer, court, court staff, divorce cases, divorce matters, family law lawyer, family law legislation, family law myontariodivorce.com, free website, judges, lawyer, lawyers, litigants, ontario divorce, questionaire, relevant family, Rob Berman, robert berman, self-represented, toronto, unbundled legal services, unbundling, undbundling legal services

Please note that the information provided herein is not legal advice and is provided for informational and educational purposes only.   If you need legal advice with respect to failure to warn, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto personal injury lawyers registered on the website who can assess your situation and, if need be, represent you in litigation or alternative dispute resolution.

With warmer weather around the corner, I thought I’d take some time to discuss the duty which Ontario property owners have to warn people of the dangers of diving in bodies of water on their premises.  Hopefully, property owners will be more aware of such a duty (i.e. assuming there is one in light of all the relevant factors and circumstances) and take reasonable and necessary precautions to prevent future injuries and deaths from happening in Ontario waters.

Section 3 of Ontario’s Occupier’s Liability Act provides that:

(1) An occupier of premises owes a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that persons entering on the premises…are reasonably safe while on the premises.

Courts have found that there is no duty to warn of a danger which is so obvious and apparent that anyone would be aware of it.  Courts have stated that property owners  are required to exercise care against dangers that are sufficiently probably to be included in the category of contingencies which should normally be foreseen (see for example, Alchimowicz v. Schram and Woods v. Ontario (Minister of Natural Resources).

In determining whether a duty to warn exists, courts from various jurisdictions have taken into consideration a number of factors, including (but not limited to):

• The injured party’s age;
• Whether the injured party was inebriated from excessive consumption of alcohol;
• The injured party’s previous swimming/diving experience;
• The injured party’s familiarity with the water and surrounding area;
• The particular risk posted by the injured party’s activity (e.g. shallow dive from a standing position, diving off of a rock platform, etc.);
• The obviousness/awareness of the danger to both the injured party and the property owner;
• The practicability and cost of post warning signs;
• The injured party’s view of the bottom of the water prior to diving;
• The time at which the injured party dove (i.e. was the bottom of the water visible, was the property open to the public at the time?);
• The time of year (i.e. was the water cold, did the water level fluctuate, was the property open to the public at the time?); and
• Whether the injured party had been previously warned by experiences, signs, people, etc. about the depth of the water or the consequences of diving.

Once again, if you have been involved in an accident or injury that involved diving into water, you should consult a Toronto personal injury lawyer to determine if you have a case and seek representation to litigate/resolve the matter.

written by admin \\ tags: 's liability, accident, accidents, court, diving s, duty to warn, failure to warn, injuries, injury, lawyer, lawyers, litigants, ontario property, personal injury lawyers, property owners, signage, swimming diving, toronto

Legal People?  Who are they and what are they capable of?

Well, here’s a short description of the more popular legal people that you’ve always wondered about but never really knew what it was all about:

Lawyer: A person who goes to school for a long time to get trained in analytical and legal reasoning. Lawyer services can be used for various legal issues – ranging from facilitating transactions (like buying or selling a home), representing parties in trial or administrative proceedings or providing answers to legal questions.  Lawyers are very good at reading, writing, researching, thinking, and speaking (both on their own behalf and on behalf of their clients).

Judge: A lawyer who acts in the capacity as a trier of fact/law and renders judgment in cases.  A judge is presumed to be impartial, neutral, and unbiased. They are supposed to conduct trials in a fair and efficient manner to all parties, and (in certain circumstances) weigh the evidence and assess the credibility of witnesses and their testimony.  If an accused is convicted in criminal court, a judge is also responsible for handing down a sentence i.e. prison term, monetary, etc.  In civil cases, a judge must determine what, if any, compensation, award, damages, declaration or other order is warranted in the circumstances.

Paralegal: Is not a lawyer.  In Ontario, they were only recently required to be licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada.  They are capable of representing parties in Small Claims Court matters (i.e. less than $10,000), minor criminal matters, adjudicative proceedings before Ontario or Federal boards and agencies, provincial highway traffic offences, and statutory accidents and benefits claims.  Paralegals are often found assisting lawyers with their files and typically work under their supervision.

Justice of the Peace (JP): Is an appointed official (sometimes elected, depending of the region) that deal with certain minor court-room matters, such as scheduling a date for trial, hearing and trying provincial offences, performing civil marriages, etc.  It is not necessary for a JP to have a formal education in law or to have been a lawyer (as is required to be a judge).

Notary Public: Is a public officer who performs non-litigious matters e.g. powers- of-attorney, administering oaths, verifying documents (passports), etc.  Notary Public’s do not necessary have to be lawyers, however lawyers qualify as notary republics so long as they fill in the application, pay the $150 (or whatever it costs) government fee, and get themselves an embosser (around $60 at Staples Business Depot).

written by admin \\ tags: accident, accidents, administrative proceedings, answers to legal questions, commissioners, compensation award, conviction, court, court matters, criminal, criminal court, damages, efficiency, highway traffic, judges, justice of the peace, justices of the peace, law society of upper canada, lawyer, lawyer services, lawyers, Legal People, legal reasoning, marriage, minor criminal matters, notary, offence, paralegal, providing answers, provincial highway, selling a home, short description, small claims court, traffic, traffic offences, trier of fact

Before opening up my own practice, Carabash Law, I relied on Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Model (Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors) – which is used to assess the attractiveness of any given industry using five separate perspectives – to analyze the solo/small law firm industry in and around where I live.  Each of these 5 factors will be examined in turn.  This analysis also helped me to identify the key success factors for that industry (which I will discuss in the next blog).

1. Threats of New Entrants: Moderate
“The threat of entry into an industry depends on the barriers to entry that are present, coupled with the reaction from existing competitors that the entrant can expect. If barriers are high and/or the newcomer can expect sharp retaliation from entrenched competitors, the threat of entry is low” (source:  Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, p. 27). Factors affecting the threat of new entrants in the targeted law firm industry primarily include the fear of “hanging out one’s shingle” and “going it alone”, the lack of legal and business management skills, knowledge, and experience, necessary operating costs and capital expenditures on office equipment/layout and information technology systems (e.g. research, documentation, billing, etc.), and accessibility to new clients.

The threat of new entrants into the targeted law firm industry seems relatively low. To establish a law firm, lawyers need to be licensed member in good standing of the Law Society of Upper Canada (which required getting into and completing law school, passing the Bar Admissions tests, and articling for 10-months), which acts as a significant first barrier to entering the industry. Throughout their minimum 7 years of university studies, law students accumulate large student loans and debts, which may take years to repay. Furthermore, many articling students and lawyers do not have the sufficient legal research, writing, presentation, and inter-personal skills to effectively market their services to the public in a meaningful way.

Establishing and managing a business also involves risk, time, expenses, and patience – something many people may not be fortunate to have in their lives (e.g. they may have a mortgage, be married with kids, have car payments to make, etc.).

Indeed, establishing a new business – but perhaps even more so a legal business which involves regulatory oversight from the Law Society of Upper Canada – involves a lot of additional management considerations which lawyers may be unfamiliar with and scared of. Lawyers may not, for example, understand or properly execute organizational theory, supply chain management, information technology systems, human resources managing, advertising and promotion, accounting and finance – in other words, areas of business management which affect their clients’ and their own practice.

Start-up costs are relatively low. Such costs typically include rent, a computer with internet access, a telephone/fax and related services, business cards, and other stationary (e.g. letterhead, paper, pens, stapler, etc.).

A successful firm will also require a steady stream of clients – something which is not guaranteed. Accessibility to clients may depend on word of mouth advertising, a convenient location, being situated near target markets, etc. A new firm would also have to coerce clients of existing law firms to switch over – something they may be reluctant to do because of their affiliation and sense of loyalty to one particular lawyer/firm.

Another factor affecting the threat of new entrants is the accessibility that potential entrants would have to the necessary labour pool. This, however, is not likely to create a high barrier to entry because the availability of administrative staff seems to be in abundance.

Finally, given the fragmentation and diversity of the targeted legal industry, newcomers need not expect swift or sweeping retaliation from established competitors in the form of price wars and special promotions and programs.

2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Moderately low
“Suppliers can exert bargaining power over participants in an industry by threatening to raise prices or reduce the quality of purchased goods and services. Powerful suppliers can thereby squeeze profitability out of an industry unable to recover cost increases in its own prices” (source: Porter, Michael E., “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy” (Jul-Aug 1997), Harvard Business Review, p. 5). A supplier group is generally powerful if it is dominated by a few companies and is more concentrated than the industry it sells to.

The bargaining power of suppliers in the targeted law firm industry is moderately low. While some suppliers (e.g. of stationary) can be easily replaced with little transaction costs, other suppliers (e.g. application software, information management systems, research databases, etc.) can be difficult not to rely on. That being said, there are my alternative and sometimes free sources which can be used as a substitute to those suppliers. Moreover, suppliers of utilities (e.g. hydro, electricity, telephone, gas, internet, etc.), labour, and various services (e.g. cleaning, repair, vending, etc.) are generally either too small, widespread, or do not differentiate between this and other industries.

3. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Moderately low
“Buyers compete with the industry by forcing down prices, bargaining for higher quality or more services, and playing competitors against each other – all at the expense of industry profitability” (source: Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, p. 24) .

The bargaining power of buyers in the targeted law firm industry seems to be moderately low. Granted, lawyers do offer some services for which only they can deliver (e.g. representation before a court, public notary/commissioner for taking affidavits, etc.). Yet competitors such as other law firms, consulting companies, and paralegal firms can perform legal services but at a cheaper rate. Moreover, access to information through the internet may allow potential clients to engage in self-help (e.g. drafting a commercial agreement, registering a corporation, filing a divorce, etc.) or conduct their own legal research (e.g. www.canlii.org). These things being said, the firms in the targeted legal industry do not advertise their prices and individuals may not be able to distinguish one firm from another – ultimately hiring the first lawyer they find or are referred to. When it comes to promoting and protecting one’s legal rights and obligations, people may not be as open to shopping around because legal services may be seen as more than a commodity and more of a value-added service. Also, law firms impose relatively high switching costs (e.g. lawyers may demand payment for switching before handing the client’s file over to them) for clients who decide to take an active matter elsewhere before it is finally resolved.

Ultimately, buyers may not do as much shopping around for legal services as they might for retail products because of the lack of meaningful information available to them. Typically, clients hire a lawyer through word-of-mouth referrals, which means that they have little purchasing power.

4. Threat of Substitute Services: High
“Substitutes limit the potential returns of an industry by placing a ceiling on the prices firms in the industry can profitably charge. The more attractive the price-performance alternative offered by substitutes, the firmer the lid on industry profits” (source: Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors,p. 23).

The threat of substitute services is somewhat high: primary competitors can be found in thousands, while secondary competitors (such as consulting companies and paralegal firms) promote themselves for low-cost alternative legal services.

5. Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors: Low
“Rivalry among existing competitors takes the familiar form of jockeying for position – using tactics like price competition, advertising battles, product introductions, and increased customer service or warranties” (source: , p. 17).

The primary and secondary competitors generally have not distinguished themselves from one another and, as such, do not have an effective strategy. They do not seem, in their advertisements or other marketing communications materials, to understand or appreciate what the competition is doing to win clients over. And because they do not openly advertise their fees or offer warranties to compete, the intensity is relatively low. Given that most of the competitors can offer the same fitness classes and programs, they can only distinguish from one another based on price and non-price factors (e.g. quality of services, environment, brand image, etc.).

Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Model Conclusion
This 5 Forces analysis indicates that, overall, the attractiveness of the targeted law firm industry is considered moderately high. Despite the relatively low start up costs, low supplier and purchaser power, and low intensity among rivals, developing and managing a successful law firm has significantly high start-up costs which cannot be easily learned or accumulated.

written by admin \\ tags: 10 months, 5 forces analysis, admissions tests, affiliations, attractiveness, bar admissions, bargaining power, barriers to entry, blog, business management skills, capital expenditures, commissioners, competition, competitive strategy, competitor, court, equipment layout, information technology systems, key success factors, law society of upper canada, law students, lawyer, lawyers, low Michael Porter, Michael Porter, newcomer, notary, paralegal, paralegals, passing the bar, practitioner, referrals, research documentation, retaliation, s and marketing, separation, shingle, solo, start up costs, start-up, student loans, supplier power, technology, threat of new entrants, threat of rivals, threatening

Please note that the information provided herein is not legal advice and is provided for educational purposes only.   If you need legal advice with respect to how to make a will, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).

In the next few blog posts, I will provide some general observations about how to make a will.  In this part, I’ll discuss the initial checklist a person should make and follow in order to prepare themselves on how to make a will.  I am assuming that the reader will be trying to do this on their own without the assistance of a lawyer.  These days, lawyers typically charge between $300-$500 for a simple will, which may or may not include power of attorneys (i.e. continuing power of attorney over property and power of attorney over health care decisions).  Sometimes, lawyers will prepare your will for free, depending on whether it’s simple enough and whether they believe that they can get extra business out of you because of this free service.

Now onto the initial checklist…  The purpose of the initial checklist is to make sure that you gather all the relevant information necessary to create a comprehensive will.  This framework will help you understand how to make a will.  The following basic information should be included in the checklist:

• Personal Information
• Income Information
• Assets: Safety Deposit Boxes, Real Estate, Insurance, Annuities, RRSP’s, etc., Corporate Securities (i.e. shares and bonds, etc.), GICs, business interests, debts owing from third parties, royalties, machinery/tools/equipment, household goods and furniture, etc.
• Liabilities: Mortgages, Loans, etc.

Once details concerning yourself, your income, and your assets and liablities has been gathered, the next step is for you to outline the instructions for the will.

To start, the following questions will need to be answered with respect to disposing of personal effects and the residue of your estate (i.e. the pool of funds accumulated by the estate trustee after dealing with the deceased’s debts, taxes, and funeral-related expenses):

• How do you want your personal effects and estate residue to be disposed of with respect to your surviving spouse and children (if applicable)?
• How is the distribution to be effected (i.e. who does it and when can they do it; for example, the estate trustee can, in their sole and absolute discretion, effect the disposition of personal effects)?
• How is your real estate to be handled?
• How is your share of family business to be disposed of?
• Would you like to create a spousal trust, whereby your surviving spouse can live off of the income generated by the residue of your estate until he or she passes away, in which case, the residue is distributed among the beneficiaries (e.g. the children?)
• What kinds of powers do you want your estate trustee to have with respect to you personal effects (e.g. power to sell, power to invest, power to distribute proceeds, power to loan funds to beneficiaries or others, power to take reasonable compensation from the residue of the estate, etc.) and assets?
• Do you want to have special clauses dealing with minors (e.g. property relating to minors, a trust relating to minors, guardians of minor’s property, etc.)?
• What kind of funeral do you want to have?
• Do you wish to donate your organs?
• How are disputes to be handled (e.g. arbitration, mediation, court, etc.)?

These and other questions will need to be answered before the will can be properly drafted.

written by admin \\ tags: annuities, ate securities, beneficiaries, blog, business interests, continuings, corpor, court, general observations, health care decisions, household goods, how to make a will, how to write a will, information assets, initial checklist, lawyer, lawyers, legal advice, legal wills, machinery tools, make a will, mediator, personal effects, power of attorney, professional assistance, real estate insurance, royalties, safety deposit boxes, tools equipment, writing a will

Note: this is not legal advice. You are always cautioned to turn to a lawyer if you feel you need to (e.g. by making a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  I am only providing this information for educational purposes only.

The consequences for failing to comply with a costs order include having an action stayed, having pleadings struck, or the court making “such order as is just”: rules 57.03(2) and 60.12 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.  Rule 60.12 deals with interlocutory cost awards (e.g. arising out of interlocutory motions). The party seeking these results would need to bring a motion in order to ask for them. The exact consequence will be determined on a case by case basis.

At the present time, the leading case on the jurisprudence concerning rules 57.03(2) and 60.12 is Burrell v. Peel (Regional Municipality) Police Services Board.

In that motion, Master Dash held that, in deciding whether to stay the action or strike the pleadings, the courts must try to strike a balance “between on the one hand the rights of an indigent litigant to have his or her day in court without concern that access thereto will be denied because of unpaid interlocutory costs orders and on the other hand the rights of other litigants not to be faced with litigants who, using impecuniosity as a shield against the costs consequences of their actions, are free to ignore the rules and orders of the court”.

While courts are somewhat reluctant to deprive a worthy but impecunious litigant of the opportunity to have his or her claim adjudicated when it is not plainly devoid of merit, litigants are not free to ignore or flout orders of the court awarding costs against them. Finally, among the factors the court should consider in determining what result is just on a motion to dismiss an action against an impecunious litigant for failure to pay a costs award are the consequences that led up to the award of costs (e.g. were costs awarded to deter bad behavior or simply against a losing party to a motion brought or resisted in good faith and on reasonable grounds?).

written by admin \\ tags: Civil Litigation, consequences, court, Dynamic Lawyers, failing to pay costs, lawyer, lawyers, litigants, litigation, merits, s in Toronto, toronto lawyer