Meet the Team

Is it possible to resolve estate disputes and arguments over an inheritance without the high cost of going to court?  Yes.  In fact, the best solutions often happen outside of the court room.  Out-of-court settlements are often better because they are faster, more flexible, and much less expensive.  They let people move past the dispute and on with their lives.  However, there are those times when a dispute must be resolved by the Judge.  In those circumstances, Marc is an experienced litigator who is well equipped to represent you at all levels of court.

Marc was called to the Bar in British Columbia in May 2006. Before completing his first year as a lawyer, Marc had run his own trials in the B.C. Provincial Court and a 5-day trial in the Supreme Court of British Columbia (Grancich v. Sinn, 2007 BCSC 1395).

In February 2008, Marc successfully defended his clients from an application for summary judgment in which they would have had to pay back the $100,000 deposit they collected from a purchaser of their land who then backed out of the deal (Siekham v Hiebert, 2008 BCSC 207).

In November 2010, Marc received a court decision in an Internet defamation and breach of privacy case that was “…thought to be the first of its kind…” (The Lawyers Weekly national newspaper Jan. 20, 2012 at page 3) (Nesbitt v. Neufeld, 2010 BCSC 1605). This court decision received national media coverage (see CTV news) and has been written about by other lawyers across Canada (see wiselaw.blogspot.ca, bc-injury-law.com, and mondaq.com). This court decision resulted in one of the highest awards of damages to date for this kind of case ($40,000—see appendix B slaw.ca).

Around 2011, Marc started focussing his practice on estate litigation disputes which includes disputes over wills, trusts, and powers of attorney.  This includes disputes often classified as ‘elder law’ issues such as the misuse of financial assets or property ownership disputes within families.

In October 2012, Marc received a B.C. Court of Appeal decision which overturned the B.C. Supreme Court decision (Truong v. Tran, 2012 BCCA 492. See article at on point legal research at Pgs. 5 – 9).  With this decision, Marc successfully won back for his clients their interests in a residential home and business that they had been contributing to for years.

In 2014, Marc took his passion for estate litigation into a solo practice.  On January 20, 2014, he opened Legatum estate litigation (“Legatum”) in a heritage building in Abbotsford, B.C.  For the next six years, Marc grew the practice in this 650 sq. foot office in beautiful Historic Downtown Abbotsford.

In December 2015, Legatum successfully petitioned the court on behalf of its client securing her entitlement to a property left to her by her father (McLachlan v Ast, 2015 BCSC 2361).

In March 2019, in the Court of Appeal, Legatum assisted in successfully overturning a lower court’s decision dismissing his client’s application (Boury v Iten, 2019 BCCA 81).

In April 2019, in a hotly contested estate dispute, Legatum secured a trial decision in favour of a minor client granting her 100% of her late father’s estate (2022 BCSC 492 – see paragraphs 29 to 35).

From early 2020 to late 2022, most litigations were put on hold as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020, Legatum moved to a much larger space just one block away from the new City of Abbotsford Courthouse.

In October 2022, Legatum successfully removed an executor on behalf of two disinherited children of their deceased father’s estate (Cornies v Cornies Estate, 2022 BCSC 2349).

In July 2023, Legatum successfully pressed for a beneficiary’s right to receive estate accounting information from the estate executor.  In this notable decision, the court further clarifies the obligations estate executors have towards estate beneficiaries – even in situations where there is an existing estate dispute (Barbieri Estate v White, 2023 BCSC 1176).  The court found in the client’s favour and ordered the estate give the client/beneficiary estate accounting documents.

In August 2023, Legatum successfully applied to remove an estate executor.  This judgment is notable because the estate (and other estate beneficiaries) denied the clients’ entitlement to any portion of the estate.  By securing the appointment of an independent estate executor, Legatum was able to ensure the estate is properly managed during the litigation process.  For Legatum’s client, this decision secures estate assets thereby protecting the clients’ claims (I.J. v J.A.P. Estate, 2023 BCSC 1516).  It is of further note, that this is the first case in British Columbia to deal with the estate rights of a child born through the invitro fertilization process.

In November 2023, the B.C. Court of Appeal heard the appeal of Cornies v Cornies Estate, 2022 BCSC 2349 as set out  above.  Legatum successfully defended this decision (Klassen v. Cornies, 2023 BCCA 420).  This decision is notable because the Court of Appeal clarified the rights of disinherited children to engage in the estate litigation process.  The Court of Appeal agreed that Legatum’s clients, two disinherited sons, had the right to apply to have the executor removed even though they were disinherited.

Deborah has been a paralegal for more than 30 years. She has a degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University and a diploma in paralegal studies from Capilano University. Her main focus has always been in litigation. She has experience assisting with estate litigation, personal injury matters, commercial litigation, and family law matters. Deborah is adept at working on what can often be emotionally difficult legal disputes.

In her spare time, Deborah enjoys traveling and camping. She is a member of a book club that has been reading together for more than 10 years. Deborah’s favourite guilty pleasure as a paralegal is watching reality television and true crime documentaries.

Heidi obtained her Legal Administrative Assistant certificate in 2018 and is an experienced bookkeeper and administrator.

When Heidi has downtime she enjoys reading, watching good television, and spending time with her family.

Miljana obtained her Legal assistant certificate in 2023 from the University of the Fraser Valley and is working on completing her Criminal Justice degree. She likes running, spending time with family and watching true crime.

Donna has extensive office experience having worked in many varied roles, most recently as Executive Assistant/Office Manager for over nine years in Calgary before making the move to Mission, BC.

Donna enjoys golfing, camping, fishing, travel and spending time with family and friends.