Call us: (905) 366 9700
EDUCATION
- Juris Doctor (2003) - University of Western Ontario
- Bachelor of Science (1997 Honours) - University of Toronto
PRIOR LAW FIRM EXPERIENCE
- Pallett Valo LLP
- WELPartners (formerly Whaley Estate Litigation)
- McMaster, McIntyre & Smyth LLP
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Ontario Bar – July 2004
- Recipient of the William Belmont Common, Q.C. Prize for Criminal Law
PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
- Technology Liaison on the Executive of the Trusts and Estates Section – Ontario Bar Association (2023-2024)
- Public Affairs Liaison on the Executive of the Trusts and Estates Section – Ontario Bar Association (2021-2023)
- Canadian Bar Association
- Ontario Bar Association
- Advocates Society
- Peel Law Association
- Ukrainian Canadian Bar Association
- Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Toronto
- West-End Women's Network
- Past board member for various charitable organisations, including:
- Etobicoke Children’s Centre (2017-2018)
- Loyola Arrupe Centre for Seniors (2008-2012)
- Rotary Cheshire Homes (2006-2014)
- Canadian Helen Keller Centre (2006-2014)
Krystyne Rusek
Counsel
PROFILE
ARTICLES + SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Krystyne’s litigation practice focuses on the area of estates; trust and capacity disputes, including will challenges and will validation; dependent support claims; guardianship applications; and power of attorney disputes. She appears regularly in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal. She is an advocate, a teacher, a writer, a representative of the Ontario Bar, and a public speaker.
She is another one of our hybrid lawyers (and there are not many out there nowadays), a litigator who has had solicitor experience practicing in the trenches to get deals done. She can litigate these issues better because she has been involved in the thick of them.
Krystyne is also another of our lawyers who has served our country. She is a former member of the Canadian Reserves, 25 Medical Company (1993-2000). She can strip a rifle even better than she can strip away the pretenses of a prevaricating witness.
She likes to swim with sharks. Go figure. Please! No snide comments about lawyers in general (don’t even think it).
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Estate litigation, including representation of individual and institutional litigants in the Superior Court of Justice and Court of Appeal:
- represented the successful party in a leading case on elder abuse, Juzumas v. Baron, 2012 ONSC 7220
- successfully defended a complicated dependant support claim, with costs awarded on a substantial indemnity basis against the alleged dependant
- succeeded on a motion for interim support, while also securing repayment of funds improperly taken by the estate trustee
- settled a complicated dependant support and compensation application, while securing costs awards for various steps taken over the course of the litigation
- obtained an order validating a will that did not comply with the formal requirements of execution and witnessing under the Succession Law Reform Act
- acts for an estate trustee during litigation in an estate matter involving multiple proceedings
- Estate administration
Reported Decisions
- Sparovec v. Smith, 2022 ONSC 7401
- O’Reilly v. Swist, 2022 ONSC 3109 (CanLII)
- O’Reilly v. Swist, 2022 ONSC 1616 (CanLII)
- Pinard et al. v. Gilchrist et al., 2022 ONSC 415 (CanLII)
- Estate of Anne Patricia Kay v. Lanari, 2020 ONSC 73 (CanLII)
- Trezzi v. Trezzi, 2019 ONCA 978, 150 O.R. (3d) p. 663 (see also Lexpert Top 10 cases of 2019-2020)
- Gabourie v. Gabourie, 2019 ONSC 6282 (CanLII)
- Trezzi v. Trezzi, 2019 ONSC 3464
- Trezzi v. Trezzi, 2018 ONSC 5180
- David Peirson v. Estate of Kathryn Peirson, 2017 ONSC 7077
- Onunkwo v. Anambra State Progressive Assn., Canada, 2015 ONSC 2006
- The Estate of Maria Cristina Sampogna, 2014 ONSC 3736
- Juzumas v. Baron, 2012 ONSC 7332
- Juzumas v. Baron, 2012 ONSC 7220, [2012] O.J. No. 6159 (see also Law Times 2013 Top Newsmakers)
- Contacare Inc. v. CIBA Vision Corporation, 2011 ONSC 4276