In this issue - #133 March 31, 2010

Tom Fellhauer has been elected as the Bencher, Okanagan District for the Law Society of B.C. Benchers are the board of directors for the Law Society and are responsible for setting and enforcing standards of professional responsibility for Lawyers in B.C.

Paul Mitchell was chosen as a recipient of the 2010 B.C. Community Achiever Award. The British Columbia Achievement Foundation is an independent foundation established to recognize and celebrate excellence in the arts, humanities, enterprise and community service.

To date, Toyota is facing at least 89 class action lawsuits regarding safety recalls that could potentially cost them in excess of $3 billion, according to the Associated Press.  http://www.news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/f1310/03-09-2010/20100309025006_01.html

The Court of Appeal of British Columbia recently clarified the law and procedure surrounding when the British Columbia Court will take jurisdiction of a case where one parent removes a child who was cared for by both his or her parents and takes the child to another jurisdiction and commences a court proceeding in the new jurisdiction. Of particular importance in this case was that Japan was not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction which provides a governing procedure where children are removed from one country to another if those countries are signatories to the convention. Thus, although this case dealt with international jurisdictional issues, it will hopefully be helpful to parties dealing with inter-provincial jurisdictional issues.

If you have been appointed Executor in a Will there are a wide range of obligations and responsibilities that you must fulfill. However, if you do not wish to act as the Executor, you may decline to do so by renouncing your Executorship and signing the appropriate documents so that the Alternate Executor may act or so that some other person may apply for Letters of Administration.

Two recent Tax Court of Canada cases are extremely relevant to the use of trusts in estate and tax planning.  Combined with recent audit activity of the Canada Revenue Agency, advisors and taxpayers are wise to understand the implications of the decisions and consider how they could affect trusts that have been established or will be established.

The BC Solicitor General Kash Heed recently announced that he will be introducing new legislation combating impaired-driving offences. The aims of the legislation are said to be to improve timely access to justice, combat crime, reduce impaired driving, and improve public safety.