What is the testator’s legal position when it comes to appointing an estate trustee?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Koglin Estate (Re), 2021 BCSC 2525 (CanLII):

It is clear from the cases that the court must balance the important principle that it should not lightly interfere with the testator’s choice of estate trustee, on the one hand, with the need to protect the estate beneficiaries on the other hand. It balances the need for “the clearest of evidence” before acting with the risk that the estate may suffer irreparable damage if the court does not act quickly enough. While it appears that there is some scope for the court to act on “unanswered questions”, it seems clear from the cases that it should be cautious in doing so in the absence of persuasive evidence of one or more of the Conroy v. Stokes factors; i.e: a) endangerment of the trust property; b) want of honesty; c) want of proper capacity to execute the duties; or d) want of reasonable fidelity.

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