Handling Tricky Issues in Estate Administration: A Panel Discussion

On Thursday, February 6, 2025, I had the pleasure of joining Emily Hubling of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in a panel discussion moderated by Sydney Osmar of Hull & Hull LLP. The panel topic was “Handling Tricky Issues in Estate Administration,” hosted by the Ontario Bar Association. While it was difficult to narrow down the seemingly endless issues that can arise during an estate administration, we were able to discuss those that we see estate trustees struggle with most often.  

Our conversation considered what to do when a beneficiary of an estate is an Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipient but there is no Henson trust for them in the will and therefore their continued ODSP eligibility will be at risk if they receive their inheritance outright. We considered the steps that both the estate trustee and the beneficiary should take, and the likely necessity of a proposal to ODSP. We also discussed how to manage missing or unknown beneficiaries, including the duty of an estate trustee to make reasonable inquiries in attempting to locate a beneficiary, and addressing missing and challenging assets such as safety deposit boxes with no key, firearms, and valuable artwork. Finally, we reviewed the complexities of advising foreign estate trustees and how to handle foreign assets of an estate.

If you are administering the estate of a loved one and are encountering any of these issues, I encourage you to contact me so we can discuss next steps. Getting advice from an experienced estate lawyer can help make navigating complex issues in the administration of an estate more manageable.