This paper addresses recent trends, jurisprudence, and legislation in estate planning, and reviews strategies for estate planning involving adult dependent family members. The first part of the paper deals with estate planning for dependent adult children, including a discussion of the minimum legal requirements for support and planning considerations. The second part of the paper looks at recent trends in estate case law and practice. Finally, the third part of the paper considers legislative trends in estate law, briefly highlighting repealed, current, and anticipated legislation.

This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Estate Planning Essentials program in Calgary on October 20, 2016 and in Edmonton on October 27, 2016.