The Commission has released a final report on Creating Efficiencies in the Law: The Beneficiary Designation Act (Retirement, Savings and Other Plans).
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The Commission makes eight recommendations to improve The Beneficiary Designation Act. If implemented, these recommendations would help to fill gaps in the current legislation. This report is limited to reviewing specific aspects of The Beneficiary Designation Act and is not a wholesale review of the Act. It forms part of a series of reports entitled Creating Efficiencies in the Law, which seek to address discrete, straightforward issues that, in the Commission’s view, can be improved with relatively simple legislative amendments.

To read the report, click here.

BRITISH COLUMBIA LAW INSTITUTE

• BCLI launches new project page for the Modernizing the Child, Family and Community Service Act Project

ALBERTA LAW REFORM INSTITUTE

• ALRI publishes consultation and Report for Discussion 33, Adverse Possession and Lasting Improvements to Wrong Land
• ​ALRI publishes its 2018-2019 annual report

MANITOBA LAW REFORM COMMISSION

• The Commission has released a consultation report on reform of The Wills Act

LAW COMMISSION OF ONTARIO

• LCO Launches Class Actions Final Report

In the Report on Common Property, Land Titles, and Fundamental Changes for Stratas, the British Columbia Law Institute’s Strata Property Law Project Committee recommends amending the Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation to shore up three key areas that help to define strata properties as interests in land.

Visit BCLI's website for more info and to download the report.

The ​Access to Justice & Law Reform Institute of Nova Scotia is calling for changes to the Intestate Succession Act, the law that sets out how a person's property is distributed if they die without a will. 

Read the Discussion Paper and take their survey.

BRITISH COLUMBIA LAW INSTITUTE

• Pension Division Review Project Committee considers transitional provisions, disability benefits at April meeting

ALBERTA LAW REFORM INSTITUTE

• ALRI publishes its recommendations for Alberta's International Commercial Arbitration Act
• ​ALRI publishes final report on inter-provincial recognition of substitute decision-making documents

SASKATCHEWAN LAW REFORM COMMISSION

• Saskatchewan Law Reform Commission posts Life Lease Consultation Report

LAW COMMISSION OF ONTARIO

• LCO Executive Director, Nye Thomas, writes guest blog post for Slaw.ca about the LCO’s digital rights project and upcoming conference on AI

Key Points:

• Life lease housing developments are increasingly popular housing options for seniors.
• Saskatchewan's residential tenancies legislation does not apply to life leases.
• The Commission is considering if there should be legislation to regulate life lease developments.
  
• Read the Life Lease Consultation Report and complete the Survey.
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​Life lease housing developments are an increasingly popular housing option for seniors across Canada. A life lease is a hybrid type of tenure arising from a contract that permits the purchaser to occupy a residence for life in exchange for an initial lump sum payment (typically referred to as an entrance fee) and the payment of ongoing monthly sums (which can cover both operating expenses and rent, depending on the size of the initial lump sum payment). Life leases grant a right to occupy; life lease holders do not own the property they are occupying.

Saskatchewan’s residential tenancies legislation does not apply to life leases. The Condominium Property Act, 1993 also does not apply to life leases. The result is that the rights and obligations of life lease holders are largely governed by the terms of the life lease agreement entered into with the project sponsor

The Commission is considering whether Saskatchewan should enact legislation to regulate life lease developments.

This survey replicates the questions set forth in the Commission's consultation paper.  The consultation paper can be viewed on the Commission's website (https://lawreformcommission.sk.ca/publications/).

The public consultation period for this project ends on May 31, 2019.

ALRI is looking to prepare a list of English statutes potentially in force in Alberta. As the first part of that work, we would like to highlight the English statutes that are in regular use. We would appreciate hearing from you about which English statutes still come up in your area of practice. 

You can let us know by answering our one question survey available at bit.ly/OldLawAB.
Having a shorter list of what is known to be in force and regularly applied is likely to be more useful than a long list of everything that might be in force. Identifying what's on that longer list will be the focus of a later part of our work. 

See our full article in the Canadian Bar Association Alberta Branch's latest edition of Law Matters.