A B.C. Supreme Court judge has rejected a man’s claim in a disputed inheritance case, ruling against his attempt to secure a portion of his late mother’s assets that were transferred to his sister before their mother’s death.
Andrew Bjornson sued his sister Teresa Mackinnon after their mother, Gloria Bjornson, transferred close to $200,000 in investments into a joint account shared with Mackinnon prior to her death in 2014. The $200,000 passed into the possession of Mackinnon after her mother died, and, along with $175,000 in other investments transferred to her, made up the entirety of Gloria Bjornson’s assets. As a result, Andrew Bjornson received next to nothing in inheritance when his mother passed.
It was Bjornson’s contention that the assets transferred to his sister should have become part of his mother’s estate upon death and distributed equally between him and his sister.
In his decision, B.C. Supreme Court Justice J. Gareth Morley stated that when a parent makes a gratuitous transfer of property to an adult child, the adult child must show that this was intended as a gift; otherwise, the assets in question are presumed to become part of the parent’s estate upon death.
Court’s Ruling on the Disputed Inheritance
Bjornson argued that since his mother had made no explicit declaration that the transfer of investments was a gift to his sister, they must be presumed to be part of her estate and distributed accordingly.
“Prior to our mother’s death, our mother informed me on numerous occasions between 2010 and her passing that to protect me, both from my addiction issues and my creditors, she would be leaving my share of the inheritance with Teresa for me,” Bjornson stated. “Furthermore, that I would have to be ‘nice’ to Teresa, i.e. stay clean and sober, to receive it.”
Mackinnon, meanwhile, stated that her mother told her the assets were a gift, in part as repayment for having let her live rent-free in her home for more than 20 years and for caring for her in her old age.
Final Decision on the Disputed Inheritance
Justice Morley found that evidence provided by Gloria Bjornson’s lawyer, Brent Kitzke, supported Mackinnon’s position that the transfer represented a gift, and that her mother’s intention was to prevent any of her money from going to her son, who had struggled for years with substance abuse disorder.
“The Deceased specifically told me she was transferring her annuities and investment accounts into the joint names of herself and Teresa [Mackinnon] as an absolute gift to Teresa,” Kitzke stated in his affidavit. “The Deceased clearly expressed to me that she felt Andrew had already been given financial advantages from her and that she was very firm in her desire to leave her entire estate to Teresa.”
This constituted clear evidence that the transfer of assets to Mackinnon was an “absolute gift,” Justice Morley stated in his decision to deny Bjornson’s claim and rule in favour of Mackinnon.
“The presumption of resulting trust has been rebutted,” Justice Morely stated. “There was a gift. Ms. Mackinnon obtained both legal and beneficial ownership of the unregistered investment assets.”
In addition to having his claim denied, Bjornson was also ordered to cover court costs.
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