Best Lawyers in Ontario, Canada for Trusts and Estates
Clare Burns is a senior trusts and estates litigator. She served as the Children's Lawyer for the Province of Ontario from 2003 to 2008 pursuant to an Order-in-Council appointment. As the Children's Lawyer, Clare's office was responsible to investigate, advocate, protect and represent persons under the age of 18 in proceedings before the courts and tribunals of Ontario. In this role, she supervised more than 11,000 cases including variations of trust, will challenges, passings of accounts, gu...
Andreea Muth has a general corporate and commercial law practice, with a focus on business owner estate planning. She advises business owners and private corporations on the structure and implementation of corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, as well as comprehensive business succession planning. This includes will and estate planning, and the use of family trusts. Combining her unique blend of corporate/commercial law and estate planning experience, Andreea sets up structures...
Caroline Abela specializes in complex business and estate litigation matters. Focusing on commercial and corporate litigation and estates and trusts litigation, Caroline represents clients ranging from large corporations and institutions to small business owners and professionals. Caroline has appeared as counsel before all levels of courts in Ontario and the Federal Court of Canada. Caroline has been named in the Who’s Who Legal for Asset Recovery and in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Dire...
Joanna is a partner at de VRIES LITIGATION LLP with extensive experience in estates, trusts, and capacity litigation. Joanna has a keen interest in issues regarding will challenges, dependant’s support, and power of attorney disputes. She has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court and the Ontario Court of Appeal. Joanna obtained her law degree from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at McGill University. Joanna was called to...
Angelique helps clients resolve legal issues that can arise following the death or incapacity of loved ones. In these circumstances, feelings of sadness or anger can be overwhelming. Angelique listens carefully to her clients in order to really understand what they need, and then pursues their goals relentlessly. Former clients describe her as an astute negotiator who is very creative, caring, strong, witty and “a warrior in the truest sense of the word.” Angelique became interest...
Robert Martini is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates . Robert, who practices law in Markham, Ontario, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Robert is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Cara is a committed advocate to clients who need help with wills, estates, trust, and capacity issues. Cara is dedicated to working with her clients to come up with pragmatic and creative solutions to their legal problems. Before joining Casey & Moss, Cara spent five years working as a commercial litigator at a national, full-service law firm where she honed her advocacy and mediation skills. She is an experienced courtroom lawyer and is equally effective as counsel in arbitrations and me...
Denise Cooney is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Administrative and Public Law, Health Care Law, Labour and Employment Law and Trusts and Estates. Denise, who practices law in Toronto, Ontario, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Denise is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Jennifer Corak advises Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters, including Will and probate planning, taxation in relation to estates and trusts, planning with inter vivos trusts, incapacity planning, and estate administration. She has particular experience with cross-border and international estate planning, including dealing with high and ultra-high net worth individuals with assets in multiple jurisdictions, individuals who are nationals and/or tax res...
Nimali has had a long-held interest in issues relating to health, disability and aging. Yet after graduating from law school in 1999, she articled at a full-service firm where there was little exposure to the issues that interested her. She was so disillusioned with the practise of law at that time that she thought she might leave it all together to become a VJ at Much Music (which seemed like a reasonable exit strategy at the time). Fortunately for Nimali and her future clients, she did not ...
John Campbell practises taxation law, advising clients on domestic and international income tax issues, with a focus on advising Canadian clients with international interests and non-Canadian clients with Canadian interests. John has extensive experience with respect to the tax implications and structuring of corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, international tax planning and tax planning using trusts. He provides his clients with effective, practical tax advice based on his e...
Sheila practices in all areas of estates and trusts litigation, and has built a reputation as a skilled and tenacious advocate. Based on her expertise in this area, her peers have repeatedly elected her one of the Best Lawyers in Canada. Sheila is pragmatic, and clients value her knack for getting to the heart of an issue, and providing results-driven and cost-effective legal advice. Sheila acts for individuals and their families, trust companies, financial institutions and charitable organiz...
Andrea McEwan is a Partner in the Wills, Trusts & Estates Practice Group at WeirFoulds LLP. Practising exclusively in the areas of wills, estates, trust, fiduciary and capacity-related litigation, Andrea possesses a deep knowledge of matters pertaining to passing of estate, attorney, guardian & fiduciary accounts, probate applications, guardianship issues, power of attorney disputes, and end-of-life and treatment decisions; and matters of elder law. Andrea represents a wide range of c...
Jonathan Lancaster’s litigation practice is focused on corporate commercial litigation, commercial real estate litigation, lease arbitrations, banking law, product liability litigation, professional negligence and estate litigation. Jonathan has a broad commercial real estate and estate litigation practice. Acting successfully as counsel in Ontario cases, Jonathan has advised on a broad array of real estate litigation issues, including mortgagee and tenant rights/priorities, rights of f...
Lucy E. Main advises Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters, including drafting estate planning documents, establishing private charitable foundations for individuals and families, helping with the administration of estates, assisting in the setting up and maintenance of trusts and providing support to litigators in contentious matters. In 2016 she was awarded the Hoffstein Book Prize by the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) for her contributions to these a...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.