Thoughts from the Bench; Profiling the Estate and Incapacity Implications of Digital and Other Unique Assets; The Latest Jointly Held Property; Update on ODSP and related issues; New definitions of family and children – Time to Update your Precedents

Douglas Buchmayer is a partner in the Ottawa office of Gowling WLG, whose practice concentrates primarily in the areas of estate planning, estate litigation and estate administration. Douglas has chaired and spoken at various continuing legal education seminars over the years and has appeared on radio and television to discuss estate planning issues. A past Bar Admission Course instructor at the Law Society of Upper Canada for the Estate Practice section and current Solicitor Examination Tutor, Douglas has also lectured in the area of estate administration at the University of Ottawa for law clerks and lectured at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, in trust law. Douglas is the general counsel for the Nunavut Trust, a past president of the Ottawa Estate Planning Council, and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (S.T.E.P.). Douglas is a member of the East Region Solicitors Conference Planning Committee.

Justice Robert Smith graduated from Queen’s University in 1977, called to the Bar in 1979 and appointed to the Superior Court in Ottawa in 2002. He co-authored the Costs Compendium Update for the East Region of Ontario published in 2010 and 2012, has written many costs decisions and spoken on Costs at the County of Carleton Law Association Montebello Conference and This Hour Has 22 Judges. He is designated as one of the Class Action Judges for the East Region and member of the Commercial Panel. He was successful counsel on a lengthy class action during the 10 years before appointment, which included a 16-month trial, over 30 defendants and appeals. He practiced in areas of commercial law, civil litigation and some family and criminal law in previous years and was elected to the executive of both the County and District Law President’s Association and the Ontario Bar Association for many years, as well as involvement with other legal and charitable organizations.