Widow Has No Say on Husband's Bank Account (Canada)

'Like I didn't exist'
Widow has no say on husband’s bank account
By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau
Mon. Aug 4 - 5:30 AM

NORTH SYDNEY — Margaret Hood took off her glasses and blinked her eyes, steeling herself not to cry as she talked about the months leading up to her husband’s death.

Losing Bob hurt deeply, the 89-year-old woman said. But it’s the decision he made in hospital before he died more than three years ago that’s causing her grief today.
"You know how a woman senses things?" she asks. "Well, I knew something was wrong."

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law Studies in British Columbia tracks cases like Ms. Hood’s. Laura Watts, its national director, could not comment on the specific case, but said this type of situation happens worryingly often.
"Financial abuse of seniors is one of the most important issues in Canada today," she said. "The problem is that cases can be very difficult to bring before the private bar. It’s not that (people) don’t want to, but if you don’t have any money to retain a lawyer it’s hard to get someone to go after your funds."

But Ms. Hood did take her stepson to Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Mr. Young was her husband’s only child but his mother gave him up for adoption when he was an infant.
He did not meet his father until the mid-1980s.
Ms. Hood had seven children from a previous marriage.
Her husband chose to leave what was in his bank account to his own son because he did not want it to go to Ms. Hood’s children, Justice Frank Edwards said in agreeing with Mr. Young’s argument.

"I have no doubt but that Robert Hood harboured a deep suspicion that unless he acted, his funds would find their way to his wife’s family by her first marriage," the judge said in his decision.

Justice Edwards’s decision could have been different if Mr. Hood had left the money to his son in his will. After a divorce or death, each spouse or the surviving spouse gets half of the shared assets, according to the Matrimonial Property Act. This entitlement would have overridden the will.

Older adults can be vulnerable to "financial exploitation" when signing up for a joint account or power of attorney, Ms. Watts said. She said anyone considering either of those options should meet with a lawyer on their own.

"We find that many, many people do not have a really clear understanding about the full ramifications of these arrangements," she said. "You’re really signing authority to another person to control your assets, which can have devastating effects."

Abridged
SOURCE: Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
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