In Climans v. Latner (2019), 144 O.R.(3d)743, Shore J. did what he should not have done and deemed the woman a ‘spouse’ even though she had her own separate house, her own separate family and they effectively only vacationed together.
This above case is to be contrasted with what Dunphy J. said in Stajduhar v. Wolfe, 2017 ONSC 4954 where he stated categorically:
[1]Can a romantic partner – even one in an apparently close and loving relationship for several years – make a claim for dependant relief without establishing that she actually lived together with the deceased for at least three years? In my view the answer is that she cannot.
Stajduhar was one of several of Jeffery Kerzner’s apparently casual on-line girlfriends. Again, like Climans, they each maintained separate residences and had separate families. Yet Stajduhar decides, after Kerzner’s death, that she was his ‘spouse’ under s.57 of the Succession Law Reform Act RSO 1990, c.S26.
In a particularly classic case of ‘no good deed goes unpunished’, Stajuhar’s only clear evidence of Kerzner’s ‘supporting’ her was the fact that on one singular occasion, he paid her rent.
According to Stajduhar, this should have been more than enough evidence to lock her in as a spouse and lock Stajuhar’s daughter in as Kerzner’s own child so that she too could share as a child of the deceased, from the estate.
A further word of warning to all those well-meaning gift-givers: any gift you give, particularly money, particularly if it is more than once, will be used to establish your intention to treat as a ‘spouse’ or as a ‘child’.
The judge would have granted high costs against Stajuhar for this charade of a case, but for the lawyer for the estate inexplicably agreeing to a mere $25,000 at the hearing.
edward@ecconway.com
www.edwardconway.ca
