ARTICLE · 16 JANUARY 2015

Acting For Husbands & Wives

Torkin Manes LLP

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Do you act for husbands and wives buying a house together, giving a mortgage together, or preparing family wills? Of course you do. Who doesn’t?

CanadaReal Estate and Construction

Sidney H. Troister, LSM

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Do you act for husbands and wives buying a house together, giving a mortgage together, or preparing family wills? Of course you do. Who doesn't?

If you do, just remember the joint retainer rules. Even though the clients are married to each other and doing little more than buying a house or doing mutual wills leaving everything to the other with a gift over to their children, rule 2.04(6) of the Rules of Professional Conduct considers that the lawyer has a joint retainer i.e. two clients which means that the lawyer must advise the clients that:

the lawyer has been asked to act for both of them;
no information received in connection with the matter from one can be treated as confidential so far as the other is concerned; and

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