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LEGAL REPORT/FAMILY LAW PREPARATION OF WILLS AND POWERS OF ATTORNEY: FIRST INTERVIEW TO FINAL REPORT, FOURTH EDITION MARY L. MACGREGOR This is an essential resource for understanding and compiling documents for use in estate and personal planning. This practical guide offers a comprehensive analysis from the initial meeting with a client to the conclusion of estate and personal planning. Updated throughout, this new edition addresses concerns over insurance declarations in wills and separate trusts. It includes more precedents for secondary or "non-probate" wills, updates to RRSP and RIF clauses and new clauses for RESPs, RDSPs and Tax-Free Savings Accounts. Hardbound with CD-ROM • Approx. 350 pp. • March 2011 Approx. $125 • P/C 0457010004 • ISBN 978-0-88804-518-8 Visit canadalawbook.ca or call 1.800.565.6967 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. parental support law." In the summer of 2010, B.C.'s Ministry of Attorney General released its white paper on reforms to the Family Relations Act, which recommended s. 90 be dropped from the new statute, as it is "rarely used" and "creates more problems than it solves." Rather than seeing more of these cases, "I think the stand of the British Columbia Ministry of the Attorney General really indicates where we're probably going to be going," says Bala. He adds the legislation doesn't fit with current thinking about how to care for the elderly, and other measures, such as leave for workers whose elderly parents are sick, could better help adults care for their parents. "I think that what we're trying to do is have more support, including more family support, recogniz- ing the pressure of the so-called 'sandwich generation' and I think that this kind of situation really cuts against that," he says. "Objectively, I believe it should be taken out. There are numer- ous facilities available to people and the reality is . . . if a child is going to help their parent, they're going to do it out of love of the parent and not out of an obligation," says Vancouver lawyer Stanley Schwartz, who is representing one of the respondents in Anderson. Another problem with respect to the legislation as it stands CANADA LAW BOOK® is the cost of litigation relative to the potential support award. "There may be more time and energy spent by the lawyers litigating this than there is ever going to be successfully recovered," says Bala. Victoria lawyer Donald McLeod, who represented the plaintiff in Anderson for two-and-a-half years through the Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia, recently withdrew from the file. He explains that after five different trial dates, adjournments, and related travel expenses, he has already spent more than twice what the pro bono society provides and cannot continue to devote resources to the case. With the view that this will be a growing area, McLeod says rather than repealing the section, it should be strengthened to provide clear guidelines as to when and under what circumstances a child is obligated to support a parent, as well as a statutory regime setting levels of sup- port. He says this would likely do away with the need for a great deal of litigation. Perhaps the most significant factor in favour of retaining parental-support legis- lation is to protect the elderly against pov- erty through support from their extended family, to compel children to contribute to their parents' support if they don't see themselves as having a moral obligation to do so, says Slater. Also, while government programs do exist, they are a limited means of support 40 M A RCH 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com hildview_CL_Mar_11.indd 1 2/10/11 4:53:52 PM