In the Estate of Oliver (Re Oliver Estate, 2021 ONSC 2751) decision on April 12, 2021, the applicant, who was treated as a stepdaughter by the deceased, had her motion seeking appointment as Estate Trustee dismissed. William Oliver died intestate on July 14, 2020, and had no spouse, children, parents, siblings, nieces or nephews survive him. The applicant was the daughter of the person with whom the deceased cohabited in a common-law relationship in the 1980s and she had remained close to him, even being appointed attorney for him on a TD bank account in 2017.

Justice Macleod found that the daughter of a partner with whom the deceased co-habited, does not fall within any class of person recognized as an heir on an intestacy pursuant to the Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990 and Letters of Administration could not be issued under the Act. It was possible to make an order appointing the applicant as administrator of the property of the deceased under s. 29 (3) of the Estates Act, RSO 1990.  Instead however, the court referred the matter to the Public Guardian and Trustee to investigate. Such investigative authority can be found in the Crown Administration of Estates Act, RSO 1990 where the “Public Guardian and Trustee is authorized to, (a) identify and locate,  (i) persons who may have an interest in the estate, and (ii) other persons, but only for the purpose of locating persons who may have an interest in the estate; and (b) identify the estate’s assets.”

The court can refer a matter to, but cannot order the Public Guardian and Trustee to be appointed as a result of the provisions of Public Guardian and Trustee Act RSO 1990, where, “The Public Guardian and Trustee shall not be appointed as a trustee, by a court or otherwise, without his or her consent in writing”. Given staffing issues and limited resources as well as pandemic restrictions it is perhaps not entirely moot to ask what happens to the estate if the Public Guardian and Trustee does not consent to be appointed Trustee in a case like this.

Thanks for reading.

James Jacuta