A salacious news story this past week, about an 84-year-old woman leaving her estate to a much younger male prostitute, caught my eye.
The few facts I am sharing here come from a court decision that can be found at this link: ().
Mr. Justice G.P. Weatherill noted: 鈥淔ollowing her husband鈥檚 death, the Deceased apparently enjoyed retaining and paying for the services of various male escorts for the purpose of companionship and sexual services鈥�.
Simon Garstin is the escort, approximately 54 years her junior. The deceased found him online and reached out to him by e-mail on January 13, 2021, ten months before her November 16th death. During a Skype meeting in February 2021, Mr. Garstin鈥檚 fees were discussed. The first overnight visit was in May 2021.
The will leaving the bulk of her approximately $1 million estate to Mr. Garstin was made August 16th, after they had several encounters, each of which the deceased paid for.
Justice Weatherill noted that the prices paid 鈥渨ere not insignificant鈥�.
She had no children. Her previous will, made in February 2021, had left the bulk of her estate to a friend she had met in 2009.
The lawsuit was brought by the deceased鈥檚 closest living relatives, a niece and nephew who live in Australia. They allege that Mr. Gastin exerted 鈥渦ndue influence鈥� on the deceased in the making of the will.
The court case is ongoing. The court鈥檚 decision had to do with preliminary matters. We鈥檙e going to have to wait to learn how this case shakes out.
My personal feelings are 鈥済ood for you!鈥�, directed both to the deceased and Mr. Garstin.
Elderly folks can become incredibly lonely, their spouse and close friends passing away. It can be difficult to find companionship, intimate and otherwise. Knowing that this lady was able to reach out online to interview and hire male escorts to fill that void warms my heart.
I hope that the evidence doesn鈥檛 establish that undue influence was exerted. I鈥檓 attracted to the romantic notion that she developed an affection for Mr. Garstin and, absent any other close family or friends in her life, simply chose to give him a wonderful gift on her death.
If a court finds that undue influence had been exercised in the making of a will, the will is invalidated.
It鈥檚 not enough to show that the benefiting person asked, or even begged, the will-maker to make them a beneficiary.
An often-quoted statement from legal cases: 鈥淚f the will-maker is able to act freely, the exercise of significant advice or persuasion on the will-maker or an attempt to appeal to the will-maker or the desire of a will-maker to gratify the wishes of another will not amount to undue influence鈥�.
More is needed: 鈥淚n order to invalidate a will on the grounds of undue influence, the asserting party must prove that the influence amounted to coercion, such that the will did not reflect the true intentions of a free will-maker and was not the product of the will-maker鈥檚 own act.鈥�
The law of undue influence is very interesting. I plan on making it the subject matter of a short series of columns.
If you think you might have grounds to challenge a will because of undue influence, please consult with a lawyer as soon as possible. Legal claims come with time deadlines.
I don鈥檛 do estate litigation work, but I can refer you to lawyers I have confidence in if you like.
Paul Hergott
You are encouraged to contact Paul directly at paul@hlaw.ca with legal questions and issues you would like him to write about.
