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Legal Blog:
Aug
01
2011
Trustee
Disgruntled parties will often take a run at a lawyer, even though they are not the lawyer’s clients, claiming that the lawyer was negligent. Some of these actions succeed (e.g. a disappointed beneficiary who failed to receive a legacy under a will that the lawyer drafted negligently or not in a timely manner). However, most of these actions fail because a lawyer normally owes a duty of care only to the lawyer’s client, not to some aggrieved third party.
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01
2011
Severance
Two or more people may own property together in one of two ways: as joint tenants or as tenants in common. On death, the interest of one joint tenant passes to the other joint tenant whereas the interest of a tenant in common passes to that person’s heirs in the normal course. Joint tenants acting together may, if they wish, choose to convert (or sever) a joint tenancy to a tenancy in common. Indeed, one joint tenant can unilaterally sever a joint tenancy. Is there ever a circumstance in which a third party can sever a joint tenancy? This question is answered in Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Company v. Muir, a 2011 decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
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