With apologies for cross-posting, I post this call for papers from Professor Adam Hofri-Winogradow of the Peter A Allard School of Law at UBC.

 

It is wonderful to see such an interesting conference being held at a great law school, in a great city, and sponsored by the Estates, Trusts and Pensions Journal. This journal, founded in 1973 as the Estates and Trusts Journal, is an excellent one for everything related to Equity, trusts, and succession. List members may be interested to know that the ETPJ has an annual Widdifield Award for the best article published in the ETPJ each year.

With my best wishes,

Lionel

 

 

 

 

Dear all,

 

The Estates, Trusts and Pensions Journal is inviting paper proposals for a conference, to be held February 19-20, 2026 at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia.

 

We invite paper proposals on any theme or topic having to do with Estates, Trusts or Pensions. Here follows a non-exclusive list of potential topics, divided into broader themes:

 

Settlors and their perspective

1. Letters of Intention/Wishes: The good, the bad and the ugly. Do they work? Who can do them? How often? What are the risks? Are they followed?
2. Identifying the “settlor” for tax (and other) purposes, as where A settles a trust with a symbolic sum, B transfers a larger sum later, and C provides the trustees with instructions.
3. Putting guardrails on trustees— May a settlor retain a veto over trustees’ decisions; may a settlor give a veto to a protector; may a settlor appoint an arbiter who will decide issues of interpretation or break a deadlock between trustees.
4. Sham Trusts: Where is the Line? Is the line shifting?

 

The Trustee’s perspective

1. Advisor Due Diligence: How much is enough? Fact checking ID, assets, narratives, family trees; and the extent of liability

 

Structuring trusts

1. Protectors: their use, duties and liabilities
2. Should trusts become legal persons?

 

Estate Planning

 

1. Mutual wills v. spousal trusts: the pros and cons and how to handle second marriages
2. Discretionary Interests in Trusts: How protected are they from creditors and spouses, and is that changing – and should it?
3. Expanding Obligations: Changing definitions of family for inheritance and dependent claims - spouses, partners, stepchildren, grandchildren being raised by grandparents, stored genetic material, the definition of disability
4. When should public policy override settlor’s intent, eg trustee exculpation clauses; trusts to avoid family obligations; Henson trusts to avoid forfeiting government assistance.

 

Purpose trusts and foundations

1.       Non charitable Purpose Trusts: Their history and uses; update on the law governing them in Canada; where they are permissible, or not, and why; and changing trends to permissibility

2.       Update on the law on donation of restricted charitable gifts to Charitable Foundations. When do they constitute a restricted charitable purpose trust and can the Charitable Foundation be a trustee?

 

Choice of law and foreign laws

1.       Choice of law for trusts

2.       Use of offshore trust law and trust or financial services: when appropriate?

 

Litigation and ADR

1. Estoppel: Another tool in the estate and trust litigation world of remedies
2. The use of ADR for resolution of estate disputes.

 

Other topics

1. Status of the Public Trust Doctrine in Canada.
2. Discretionary trusts—what does absolute discretion mean?
3. How does or should the income tax system deal with resulting trusts and constructive trusts.
4. What are the principles on which fully secret and half-secret trusts are enforced?
5. Blind trusts in Canada regarding property holding for members of the legislatures and Parliament. What are the provinces’ regulations and what are the federal regulations requiring blind trusts?  Who monitors the blind trusts and do they serve their intended purpose?

 

Please send a 500-word abstract to David Freedman, the editor-in-chief, at etpjconference@gmail.com, by July 1, 2025.

 

Cheers,

 

Adam.

 

Prof. Adam S. Hofri-Winogradow (何富力) (He/Him/His)
Associate Professor
Peter A. Allard School of Law
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | Musqueam Traditional Territory
1822 E Mall | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z1 Canada

hofri@allard.ubc.ca |

Webpage: https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/adam-s-hofri-winogradow
SSRN Page: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=412104

Land Acknowledgement: I am grateful to live and work on the ancestral, unceded, and occupied Indigenous lands of the Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Stó:lō, and Syilx (Okanagan) Nations. The lands UBC is situated on have always been places of learning, and the Nations of the Salish Peoples continue to maintain their political sovereignty and cultural traditions as vital members of the community. I acknowledge that I inhabit this land as an uninvited guest and that this land rightfully belongs to the various First Nations of Canada. 

 

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