Does The "Presumption Of Resulting Trust" Apply To Beneficiary Designations?

Since the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada in Pecore v. Pecore, 2007 SCC 17 and Madsen Estate v. Saylor, 2007 SCC 18, the "presumption of resulting trust" has taken a leading place in estate litigation in Canada. It is common for persons interested in an estate to make claims that assets jointly owned by the Deceased and a third person (often an adult child) actually belong to the estate, and do not pass by right of survivorship to the other co-owner. The presumption of resulting trust is rebuttable, and the court will consider whether the Deceased actually intended to make a gift of the property (or the right of survivorship) to the third party.

Such claims are most prominent in British Columbia since assets passing outside the estate by right of survivorship are not subject to wills variation claims. Claimants often combine a Pecore claim with a wills variation claim in order to increase the size of the estate subject to the dispute.