CASEY & MOSS WELCOMES OUR SUMMER STUDENTS

May 22, 2024

Casey & Moss is thrilled to welcome our 2024 summer students, Diana Begaliyeva and Fara Seddigh, to our team. Read on to get to know Diana and Fara!

Diana Begaliyeva

Diana is an incoming 3L at Queen’s University Faculty of Law. Prior to law school, Diana specialized in Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Toronto. Diana discovered her passion for advocacy and access to justice while at UofT, where she founded the Legal Literacy Club. During her time as Director, Diana organized events educating the community on landlord/tenant rights, immigration, and wrongful convictions.

Prior to joining Casey & Moss, Diana strengthened her advocacy skills through her work at the Community Legal Clinic of York Region. Diana worked primarily on the disability law team and advocated for her clients at several appeals before the Social Benefits Tribunal.

While in law school, Diana researched the intersection of feminist constitutionalism and recent equality jurisprudence alongside an exceptional research team. Currently, Diana is spending her free time at the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, where she is researching the ways in which shell companies and NFTs are used to facilitate white-collar crime and human trafficking.

When Diana is not working, she spends her time walking down Lakeshore, playing tennis, and standing in line at Badiali’s.

Diana is eager to explore her keen interest in Wills and Estates, and continue developing her oral and written advocacy skills while working at Casey & Moss this summer.

Diana can be reached at dbegaliyeva [at] caseyandmoss [dot] com.

 

Fara Seddigh

Fara is an incoming 3L at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, with a Double Major in Psychology and Law & Society from York University. Prior to and throughout law school, Fara assumed several roles within the field of politics, having most recently worked as a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament. While moving back and forth between Richmond Hill and Parliament Hill to stay engaged in both local and national issues, Fara solidified her passion for advocacy, community engagement, and utilizing the law and policies as tools for social change.

In her 1L and 2L years, Fara further strengthened her experiences in advocacy through volunteering with Pro Bono Students Canada at two legal clinics, where she delved into a diverse array of matters focused on Housing Law, Administrative Law, Immigration Law, and more. As the Submissions Manager of her law school’s debut law journal, the TMU Law Review, Fara worked alongside a fantastic team to advance publication of the inaugural edition and upcoming second volume.

Fara is excited to build on her advocacy skills at Casey & Moss, where she will explore her emerging interests in the area of Wills and Estates while gaining valuable mentorship and exposure to the nuances of litigation.

In her free time, aside from drinking an unusual amount of coffees per day, Fara enjoys watching and talking F1, trying to snatch up concert tickets, and looking for new places to travel!

Fara can be reached at fseddigh [at] caseyandmoss [dot] com.

CONSIDERATIONS IN MOVING FORWARD WITH A WILL CHALLENGE

May 6, 2024

In my experience, it’s quite common to have a call with a potential client that involves the following situation:

  • The potential client has concerns about their relative’s last will and testament. The relative’s Will was changed shortly before the relative’s death, reducing the potential client’s share of the estate, or removing the potential client from the Will entirely.
  • The relative exhibited memory issues and confusion in the years leading up to their death. The relative may have also shown signs of paranoia or behaved in previously uncharacteristic ways.

In some cases, the facts provided by the client strongly suggest that the relative was unlikely to have had the capacity to make the disputed Will. However, most situations do not fit into this category and there are often many gaps in the potential client’s knowledge.  This is often because some key information and documentation is not available to review.  For instance, documents such as medical records and the file of the lawyer who prepared the Will are not normally going to be available until a court Order is obtained for their release. But one cannot obtain such an Order without first starting a court application to challenge the Will.

Once the Order for production of documents is obtained and the medical, legal, financial, and other documents are reviewed, the case may look quite different than it initially appeared.  It may be a better or worse case than the lawyer initially might have thought given the very limited information that was first available. For this reason, it is very important to re-assess the strength of a Will challenge case at each step of the litigation process.

On a related point, a client should not wait too long to challenge the validity of a Will. The estate trustee named will be busy administering the Estate and will eventually distribute the assets if they aren’t prevented from doing so through a court Order which ties up the administration. This type of Order is typically granted when a Will is challenged. As well, it is extremely important that a limitation period not be missed, as a limitation period could have the effect of blocking a Will challenge from proceeding. (Legal advice will be required to determine when the limitation period begins to run as the particulars of each situation must be considered.) But, generally speaking, while some things may age well, a Will challenge case is not one of them and it’s generally best to commence a claim as soon as possible.

 

Angelique Moss

Nothing contained in this post constitutes legal advice or establishes a solicitor-client relationship. If you have any questions regarding your legal rights or legal obligations, you should consult a lawyer.