Pouring over Pour-Over Clauses – Waslenchuk Estate

Case Summary: Waslenchuk Estate, 2020 BCSC 1929

Court: Supreme Court of British Columbia

Date: December 8, 2020

Citation: Waslenchuk Estate, 2020 BCSC 1929

Background: Janet Letourneau, the executor of the Will of Lorraine Rose Waslenchuk, brought an application seeking directions regarding the distribution of the estate. Lorraine Rose Waslenchuk executed her Will in Connecticut on November 27, 2013, and passed away in Vancouver on August 2, 2016. Her husband, Dennis Waslenchuk, predeceased her in 2015. The Waslenchuks, who had no children, lived in the United States from 1975 until 2014, when they returned to British Columbia due to Dennis’s health issues.

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Pouring over Pour-Over Clauses – Quinn Estate

Case Summary: Quinn Estate v. Rydland, 2019 BCCA 91

Court: Court of Appeal for British Columbia

Date: March 14, 2019

Citation: Quinn Estate v. Rydland, 2019 BCCA 91

Background: The appeal in Quinn Estate v. Rydland centers around the validity of a “pour-over” clause in the Will of the late John Brian Patrick Quinn. The clause in question directed the residue of Mr. Quinn’s estate into an inter vivos trust known as the Quinn Family Trust (QFT), which was both amendable and revocable. The appellant, Valerie Quinn Rydland, challenged the invalidation of this clause at trial, contending that it should be upheld under the doctrines of incorporation by reference and facts of independent significance, or alternatively, through the curative provision of section 58 of the Wills Estates and Succession Act (WESA).

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