I introduced the subject of undue influence last week with the case of an 84-year-old woman who the bulk of her approximately $1 million estate to a male prostitute, whose services she engaged.

Allegations of undue influence against the male prostitute were made in a lawsuit that is wending its way through the court system.

One definition of undue influence comes from the British Columbia Court of Appeal case of Longmuir v. Holland, 2000 BCCA 538, “…influence which overbears the will of the person influenced so that in truth what she does is not his or her own act.”

The relationship between the will-maker and the person accused of exercising undue influence is of utmost importance. Section 52 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act says if someone establishes that a will arose in circumstances where the potential for dependence or domination existed as between the will-maker and another person, the onus of proof then shifts to the person defending the will to establish that undue influence was not exercised.

It is common for........

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