CFMR lawyer, Katherine Ducey was counsel on a successful appeal in a claim in which our client’s sisters had disputed the validity of the transfer of their late mother’s home in Vancouver to our client, Mr. McKendry. Mr. McKendry was added as a joint tenant to the home but a written deed of gift under seal was not executed by their late mother at the time he became a joint tenant. Mr. McKendry appealed against the trial judgment declaring that Mr. McKendry held the home in trust for his late mother’s estate.
The BC Court of Appeal found the trial judge erred in finding that the late mother had not taken the steps necessary to perfect the gratuitous transfer of the right of survivorship to the home. She had the clear intention to transfer her beneficial interest in the home to Mr. McKendry and had done everything necessary to complete the transfer before her passing. An executed written deed of gift under seal was unnecessary as Mr. McKendry was already a joint tenant to the home.
The transferor’s actual intention is the key factor in determining the ownership of a jointly held asset.
For further details, read the full judgment here.
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