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Monday, January 26, 2015

To litigate or to mediate?

It's no surprise to any of us that estates can be minefields of disputes, upsets, and resentments. The usual way of resolving an estate dispute is to take someone to court and let the judge decide who wins and who loses. But those of you who have thought that there simply must be a better way of dealing with these disagreements are right; there is an alternative. That alternative is mediation.

Mediation is not particularly familiar to most people, since most of us have never had any reason to go through it, but there are good reasons for almost everyone caught up in an estate fight to consider mediating rather than litigating. Not all issues can be resolved this way, but if the people involved really want to settle an issue without fighting, mediation may be a good solution.

Toronto lawyer Ian Hull is a leader in the area of wills and estates law. Mr. Hull has recently posted on his blog, the Toronto Estate Law Blog, discussing the benefits of using mediation to resolve estate issues. Click here to read the article. I hope that knowing a bit more about mediation will prompt at least some of you to look into using that method of dispute resolution.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting - thanks for this info.
    I'm trying to get an uncontested estate wrapped up - it has been 58 months, and the estate trustee refuses to communicate or act. Assets are cash only, but some residual beneficiaries are minors. Should I attempt to get an order to pass accounts, and would this then trigger mediation? Probate was filled in Hamilton, not one of the mediation counties.

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  2. Okay hopefully this posts now... So, my mom's ex boyfriend passed away, and his family had the police lock the house down while they figure things out (which is fine) the problem is myself, my mom, and his best friend who has been caring for him all have personal property in the house, we were all on good terms, but his family doesn't believe that (though they wouldn't know because they didn't bother with him) how can we get our property back? As far as I know there is no will, and his family is not willing to let us remove our property

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