This report makes a number of recommendations to reform the Wills Act. It recommends that Alberta courts be given the power to validate a will or an alteration, revocation or revival of a will even if it does not comply with the formalities prescribed by the Wills Act. It also recommends that the age of testamentary capacity remain the same as the age of majority (18 years) so that a minor cannot make a valid will. People [...]
This report considers the payment of a person's debts out of their estate after their death (at the time of publication). Over hundreds of years, a common law "order of application" had developed, that determined the order in which certain kinds of assets could be applied to pay off a debt, so that, for example, assets that were not given over as a gift to someone would be applied to pay off debts before those [...]
A person who dies without a valid will is known as "intestate." The distribution of such a person's assets was (at the time of this report's publication) determined by the Intestate Succession Act, RSA 1980, c I-9. This Act was based on a system of property distribution developed in 1670 (the Statute of Distribution). This report asserts that this scheme of distribution was out of date, and that the will of those who died intestate could be [...]
Present law relating to substitute healthcare decision-making is deficient, as it requires that consent be obtained but does not provided a practical mechanism for doing so. The law also fails to provide individuals with a mechanism for planning for their own incapacity with respect to healthcare decisions. This report contains 28 recommendations and contains draft legislation entitled Health Care Instructions Act which would create the advance directive, create the healthcare agent or proxy, and integrate the scheme [...]
This report aims to amend Alberta's outdated Surrogate Rules, which govern the procedure for the administration of an estate. A complicated, detailed endeavour, it was completed in partnership with the Surrogate Rules Committee, and focused solely on the procedural statutory provisions involved. Substantive provisions are examined in another project now underway. Some recommendations are: That one court have carriage of all applications dealing with the administration of a given estate so that courtroom efficiency is [...]
This report addresses the desire by those who are contemplating their own possible mental incapacity to assign to someone power of attorney over their affairs. At the time of this report, at common law, a power of attorney would automatically terminate as soon as the donor of that power had become mentally incapable. As a result, many people who suffered mental incapacity would have a trustee assigned by a court to care for their affairs. [...]
This report recommends a new rule to cover the case in which property is to go to B on A's death and there is doubt which of them died first. The Alberta Survivorship Act currently provides that in cases of doubt the older of the two will be deemed to have died first. This report proposes a new rule that B, the beneficiary, would be deemed to have died first unless it can be proved that he [...]
This report is a reissue and update from of Report 20, Status of Children, June 1976. The report provided detailed reasons and recommends that there will be one status for all children; that the legal relationship of child and parent be dependent on their biological relationship; that with the exception of parental guardianship, all rights and obligations of the child born out of wedlock, of a parent, or of any other person be determined in [...]
Present law relating to substitute healthcare decision-making is deficient, as it requires that consent be obtained but does not provided a practical mechanism for doing so. The law also fails to provide individuals with a mechanism for planning for their own incapacity with respect to healthcare decisions. This report contains 28 recommendations and contains draft legislation entitled Health Care Instructions Act which would create the advance directive, create the healthcare agent or proxy, and integrate the scheme [...]
This report examines the issue whether section 47 of the Trustee Act ought to apply to RRSPs and RRIFs. It describes the scope and history of this project, looks at the existing law, and concludes that section 47 probably applies to RRSPs, even though its definition of "plan" does not mention them by name. The report also explores the fact that RRIFs as a type of "plan" within the meaning of section 47 is more doubtful. Arguments [...]
