The policy considerations underlying section 60 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, together with the nature of constructive trusts was the subject of some debate in a series of articles published in The Advocate in 2022.

A healthy and respectful canvassing of positi...

One of the leading decisions on the phrase, "excessive hours" is BC EST # D071/10 Johnston. The employee worked 14 hours on an election day and argued that "excessive" should be interpreted to mean a shift in excess of 12 hours. The Director considered the dictionary definit...

It is not always necessary to show that the proposed action is in the best interest of the estate. It may be sufficient if it is necessary or expedient to protect the interest of a specified person.

Decisions of the court under s. 17 are not limited appeal orders and therefore leave is not required under s. 11 of the Court of Appeal Rules to appeal.

In April 2025 the British Columbia Human Rights Commissioner published the results of an inquiry into practices under s. 59 of the Adult Guardianship Act. “We’re still here": Report of the Inquiry into detentions under the Adult Guardianship Act documents some detentions takin...

In Cohen 2023 BCSECCOM 317 an application was made to the BC Securities Commission for orders than notice delivered under an advance notice policy requiring notice with respect to the election of directors be included in a circular and that the shareholder vote be restrained u...

The implications of this section are canvassed by Jennifer Bednard in "Will or Will Not: Practice Implications of Section 58 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act Part I: What is a Testamentary Document Anyway?" (2020) 78 Advocate 527.

In Insurance Corporation of British Columbia v. Ari, 2025 BCCA 131, the BC Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the Honourable Mr. Justice N. Smith (2024 BCSC 964), to award aggregate damages of $15,000 per class member for a serious breach of privacy by a former employee of...

Section 36 of the Property Law Act does not apply to the Crown land owned or controlled by the Provincial government: Fox v British Columbia (Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development), 2022 BCSC 541

The filing of a Notice of Dispute is a "proceeding" for the purpose of this section. After a Notice of Dispute is filed, the court may appoint an administrator pending legal proceedings. In Glendale v. Walker, 2024 BCSC 1947, the disputant successfully brought a petition to ap...

This section was drawn from section 2.1 of the Arbitration Act, RSBC 1996, c. 55, and is needlessly confusing. On the one hand it seems to say that people can agree to arbitration anything that "may be the subject of a family law dispute in the future," while on the other is s...

In Wilkinson v. Chartier, 2025 BCCA 53, the Court of Appeal overturned the chambers judge’s order granting summary judgment in relation to trust claims brought under s. 151 of WESA on the basis that the claims were statute barred by the Limitation Act. The Court of Appeal held...

This provision is mandatory and there is no discretion to order payment to be made to someone other than the PGT. See 2019 BCCA 171 at paras 7 - 11.

The purpose of this provision, embodying as it does the common law “indoor management rule” is clear: persons doing business with a corporation should not have to be concerned about whether the company’s internal business housekeeping is in order. Instead, it is the company th...

The term "obsolete" means something that is "no longer practised or used, discarded; [and] out of date". A determination of obsolescence is a consideration of the nature of the charge itself in the circumstances of the use of the relevant property and a determination of whet...

In Ocean Pacific Hotels v. Lee, 2025 BCCA 57, the Court of Appeal overturned the certification judge’s order certifying the common issues relating to the claim for contractual breaches. In the Court’s view, it was plain and obvious that the pleadings as drafted did not disclos...

In Mithaq Canada Inc. 2024 ONCMT 9 the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal (Tribunal) dismissed the application of Mithaq Capital SPC (Mithaq) to cease trade a private placement that Aimia Inc. (Aimia) completed in October 2023. Mithaq had asserted that the private placement was ...

Nesbitt v. College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, 2024 BCSC 1661: Section 24 of the Health Professions Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 183, provides a limited statutory immunity. The immunity applies to members of the College board and persons acting on behalf of the C...

In CARDON Group, Re., 2024 BCIPC 102, the adjudicator exercised her discretion available under s. 50(1) of PIPA to cancel an inquiry which was deemed moot, as a result of the applicant revealing during her submissions that she already had a copy of the unredacted documents at ...

Maddock v. British Columbia, 2022 BCSC 1605: Section 54(h) empowers the Provincial Health Officer ("PHO") to decline the request of a person affected to reconsider (s. 43), review (s. 44), or reassess (s. 45) an order or a variance order during an emergency. This provision exi...

The legislative intent in fashioning the derivative action leave provisions required that leave be obtained before such action is filed. The provision stipulates that a complainant may, with leave of the court, prosecute a legal proceeding. The corollary is that a complainant...

In Singh v Singh, 2020 BCCA 21, the Court of Appeal restricts the nature of the "other factors" that may be argued in favour of reapoprtionment. Justice Garson reviews the specific factors identified in section 95(2) and, applying the principles of statutory interpretation, co...

This amendment means that all minimum rates will be automatically determined by the previous year's average inflation rate for the province of BC. The increase will take effect on June 1 each year, except for agricultural piece rates that will increase on December 31 each yea...

Re: Matter of E.L.K. & Application for Warrant s.28(3) Mental Health Act, 2023 BCPC 172 and Re: Matter of N.L. & Application for Warrant s. 28(3) Mental Health Act, 2025 BCPC 55 are two rare examples of published reasons for decision applying the statutory criteria to determin...

The Court of Appeal quashed a decision of the Tribunal that denied legal representation on the basis that legal counsel could instead provide assistance anonymously and behind the scenes.

The constitutionality of the Civil Resolution Tribunal's limitation on legal representat...