Estate Disputes: Will Challenges, Dependant Support and Executor Disputes

Disputes over an estate arise at a painful time, often between people who have known each other all their lives. The law provides ways to challenge a will, to claim support, and to hold an estate trustee or attorney to account, and it sets short deadlines for doing so. This page explains the main kinds of estate dispute in Ontario and how they are resolved. Law Wise is based in Mississauga and serves the entire GTA and Ontario.

Contesting a will in Ontario

A will can be set aside only on recognized legal grounds. Disappointment with what it says, or a belief that it is unfair, is not one of them. The grounds are:

• Lack of testamentary capacity. The person making the will must have understood that they were making a will, the property they had to give, the people who might expect to benefit, and how the will dealt with them, free of any delusion affecting those decisions. This long-standing test comes from Banks v Goodfellow (1870), LR 5 QB 549.
• Lack of knowledge and approval. The person must have known and approved of the contents of the will they signed.
• Undue influence. The will was the result of pressure that overpowered the person’s own wishes. Persuasion is not enough. The person alleging undue influence must prove it.
• Improper signing. The will was not signed and witnessed as the Succession Law Reform Act requires. Since 2022 the court may still validate a document that was not properly signed if it is satisfied the document sets out the deceased’s testamentary intentions.
• Forgery or fraud.
• Revocation. The will was revoked, or was replaced by a later valid will.

The person putting the will forward must prove that it was properly signed and that the maker had capacity and knew and approved of its contents. A will that looks regular is presumed valid, but that presumption falls away where there are suspicious circumstances, for example where a person who benefits arranged the will, or where the will was made shortly before death during serious illness and departs sharply from earlier wills (Vout v Hay, [1995] 2 SCR 876). The lawyer’s file from the making of the will and the medical records are usually the most important evidence.

Dependant support claims in Ontario

Ontario does not require a person to leave their estate to their family, with one major exception. Under Part V of the Succession Law Reform Act, where a deceased person has not made adequate provision for the proper support of their dependants, the court may order that support be paid out of the estate (s 58).

Disputes with an estate trustee

• No information. A person with a financial interest in an estate may ask the court to order an estate trustee to file a statement of the assets, to accept or refuse the appointment, or to apply for a certificate.
• Accounts. A beneficiary or creditor can require an estate trustee to pass accounts before a judge, who may inquire into the whole administration and order the trustee to pay for losses caused by misconduct, neglect or default (Estates Act, ss 49, 50).
• Removal. The Superior Court of Justice may remove an estate trustee and appoint another (Trustee Act, s 37). The court does this where the administration or the beneficiaries’ interests are at risk, not simply because relations are poor.
• Compensation. Beneficiaries may object to the amount a trustee claims.
• Delay. A trustee who does not act can be ordered to proceed or be replaced.

Powers of attorney, joint accounts and gifts made late in life

Many estate disputes are about what happened before the death. An attorney under a power of attorney for property is a fiduciary and must keep accounts. After the death, the estate trustee or a beneficiary may ask the court to order the attorney to pass those accounts and to repay money that was misused (Substitute Decisions Act, 1992, s 42). Transfers made shortly before death raise related questions. Where a parent added an adult child to a bank account or to the title of a home and the child gave nothing in return, the law presumes that the child holds the asset in trust for the parent’s estate, and the child must prove that a gift was intended (Pecore v Pecore, 2007 SCC 17). A gift or transfer can also be challenged for lack of capacity or undue influence. Bank records, the documents signed when the account was opened or the transfer made, and the evidence of the professionals involved decide most of these cases.

Time limits

• Six months after the certificate of appointment for a dependant’s support application (Succession Law Reform Act, s 61).
• Six months after the death for a surviving spouse to file an election for an equalization payment (Family Law Act, s 6(10)).
• Two years from the death for claims by or against the estate for wrongs done to or by the deceased (Trustee Act, s 38(3)). This period runs from the death, whether or not the claim was known.
• Two years under the general limitation period for most other claims, including, as Ontario courts have held, a claim to set aside a will. The period usually runs from the death or from when the claim was or should have been discovered.
• Before the certificate is issued, a person who objects to a will should file a notice of objection with the court. It expires after three years (Rules of Civil Procedure, r 75.03).

These periods are strict and interact with one another. Get advice as soon as you have a concern.

How an estate dispute proceeds

1. Advice and documentsThe will, earlier wills, the certificate if issued, and what is known about the assets.
2. Protecting the positionA notice of objection, or a request that the estate not be distributed while the claim is considered.
3. DirectionsAn application or motion for directions asks the court to set the issues, the parties and the procedure, and where needed to appoint an estate trustee during litigation (r 75.06).
4. RecordsThe court can order production of the drafting lawyer’s file and medical and financial records.
5. MediationMediation is mandatory for contested estate matters started in Toronto, Ottawa and the County of Essex, and the court can order it elsewhere (rr 75.1, 75.2). Many estate disputes settle at or after mediation.
6. HearingIf the case does not settle, a judge decides it.

Costs deserve a realistic view. Estate litigation is expensive, and the costs are not automatically paid from the estate. Ontario courts generally apply the ordinary rule that the unsuccessful party may be ordered to pay part of the other side’s costs. Whether a claim is worth bringing depends on the strength of the evidence and the value at stake.

How Law Wise helps

• Assessing whether there are grounds to challenge a will, and what evidence is needed.
• Bringing or responding to dependant support claims.
• Acting for beneficiaries seeking information, accounts or the removal of an estate trustee.
• Acting for estate trustees and attorneys who are asked to account or who face a claim.
• Representing clients at mediation and in court.

Your file is handled by a Law Wise lawyer licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. Service is available in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi, and, if you retain the firm, fees are explained and confirmed in writing before work starts.

Common questions about estate disputes

This page is general legal information for Ontario, current as of 11 October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. For advice about your situation, please speak with a lawyer.