Understanding the Court's Approach to Allegations of Undue Influence and Suspicious Circumstances

• Author: Justice Thomas R. Lederer
• Pages: 239-248



Understanding the Court‘s Approach

toAllegationsofUndueInuenceand

Suspicious Circumstances

TheHonourableJusticeThomasRLederer*

IamjustatouchapprehensiveWhatIwasaskedtodowastocomeand

explainwhat thejudgei slooking forin respectof casest hatdealw ith

lackof capacityundue inuenceor suspicious circumsta ncesIn fact

thenatur eoft heevidencein cases liketh iswhatthe courtis looking

forisneithersurprisi ngnorparticularlyunexpected

AsI getintot hisI wanttosta rtwith thefu ndamentalquestion of

onusinthecontextoftheseca sesfrommyperspectiveasajudgeThis

is the case of VoutvHay.

Iam sureyouhavea llheardabout itbeforeWhen amaercomes

tocou rtt he onusreverts to those who support the will to show that

knowledgeandapprovalwere presentatt hetime itwassigned bythe

testatorLetsnotforgetwhattheimpactofonusactuallyisThisisfrom

the ca se of Robins andNational Trust.Onusas a determining factorof

thecasecanonlyariseifthetribunalndstheevidenceproandconso

evenlybalancedt hatitcancome tonoconclusionOn lythenwil lonus

determinethemaerIdonotthinkIwouldarriveatcourtthinkingIm

not concerned about this because the onus is on the other side. The court

isgoingtoconsiderallt heevidenceItisgoingtotakethe onusintoac-

counton lyif the judgecan notother wise decideYouhaveto prepare

Youhavetobepreparedtoproveyourcase Ultimatelythequestionto

* Superior Court of Justice of O ntario.

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