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The Supreme Court of British Columbia is set to hear an illegal disinheritance case which has made quite a stir in the news. Sisters Frances Graham and Stephanie Kennery have claimed against their siblings, Lisa Turnbull and Matthew Lawruk over their late mother’s estate, claiming that they have been unfairly disinherited. The case concerns the residue of a $3 million lottery jackpot their mother won before her passing and held in a joint account with her daughter, Lisa Turnbull. The case and judgement will involve many common estate planning and litigation issues that all will writers should be aware of regardless of the size of their estate.
Lloyd, mother to four adult children, won three million dollars in the July 2021 Lotto 6/49 draw. At the time, Lloyd already held an RBC joint account with her daughter, Lisa Turnbull. The account was used to pay Lloyd’s bills and other expenses, and was held jointly with Lisa so she could assist her mother in managing her finances and make purchases on her behalf.
Lisa Turnbull says that one week after the lottery win, Lloyd transferred $1 million into an account Lisa shared jointly with her husband. It was her understanding that this transfer was made as a gift. Lisa used some of this money to pay off her mortgage and other purchases. The affidavit also says that her brother and co-defendant in the case Matthew Lawruk was gifted $500,000 from Lloyd.
In an affidavit, Turnbull says her mother later spoke with a lawyer about her estate plan and testamentary wishes. According to Turnbull, the lawyer told Lloyd that she did not need a will if she wanted Lisa to receive all the money left in her account, the residue of the lotto winnings. The lawyer explained that, as the funds were held in a joint account with Lisa, she would automatically inherit all of the account’s funds upon Lloyd’s death. Turnbull says after this meeting, she continued to use the account for the purpose of caring for her mother as she always had. She says Lloyd told her several times that she did not want the winnings to be shared with her other children upon her death, and that she wanted the balance of the account to go to Turnbull. She says she gave her sister, one of the claimants, $10,000 as a gift because she knew her sister wouldn’t receive “any money from [their] mother”.
The claimants, Frances Graham and Stephanie Kennery have said they have started their illegal disinheritance claim because they want to make sure their mother’s estate was handled properly upon her death. Matthew Lawruk, one of the defendants, has said that he hopes the rest of the winnings left in the account are split evenly between the siblings in accordance with standard intestate succession.
The outcome of this lawsuit is likely to be very interesting to will writers and lawyers alike. There are many overlapping issues raised in the facts of the case, including testamentary intention and the presumption of resulting trust, as well as the possibility of a wills variation to correct the illegal disinheritance. We will continue to post updates on the outcome of this case as well as more in-depth explanations of the legal issues relevant in this case and to ordinary will writers.
Source: Article by Keith Fraser, Vancouver Sun June 20, 2022
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