When death doesn’t end it all

The B.C. Supreme Court made an interesting decision recently in the Wills Variation case of Eastman v. Eastman.

The case was launched in 2003, after the deceased’s widow felt, in essence, that her life interest in the house was an unfair bequest after an 18-year (second) marriage.

Her negotiations with the Executors (the deceased’s children) were amicable, though, and she remained in the house anyway, as if under a life interest.

But few steps were taken in the case over the next 12 years, and the widow died in 2015.

The Executors then applied to have the case dismissed for “want of prosecution,” which is essentially to have the case ended because nothing was done for so long. The Court did not dismiss the case.

Though indeed no steps had been taken for a long time, there were sound reasons.

Certainly the parties were in communication, and note that the widow’s passing does not prevent her Wills Variation case from proceeding.

The Estate does not appear large, but it should be interesting given that both the husband and wife are now deceased.

This ad ran in the Richmond News on February 19, 2016.