Fasken represents Mr. Roger Karam before the Supreme Court of Canada in the context of an action for the unenforceability of a trust that holds the residence used by the family. The applicants seek to have the value of the residence shared in the calculation of the family patrimony in the context of the succession of the deceased wife, the late Taky Yared. In October 2011, two months after the initial cancer diagnosis of Mrs. Yared, a family trust was established for the benefit of the children and Mr. Karam was appointed co-trustee with his mother with certain special powers in the designation of beneficiaries, powers that he never exercised.
On March 30, 2016, Mr. Karam commenced an action in the Superior Court to have Mrs. Yared’s will annulled. On July 19, 2016, the appellants, in their capacity as liquidators of the succession, filed an application for declaratory judgement for the Court to declare that the family residence formed a part of the family patrimony in accordance with the Civil Code of Quebec.
This issue is very important, since it will define the interaction between the law of trusts and the family patrimony, in order to determine whether the spouses may be obliged to compensate the other spouse for property which he does not own, in the context of the division of the family patrimony. This could constitute an important precedent that will change the financial planning of Quebec spouses in the future.
A Fasken team led by Antoine Aylwin represents Mr. Roger Karam in connection with this case.
