不列顛哥倫比亞省最高法院考慮了遺囑內容之外的證據，以確定遺囑人在提及「我的孩子」時的意圖（Ritchie v Hamilton，2024 BCSC 941）。此案由死者第二任妻子的繼子和親生女兒（原告）以及死者第一任妻子的親生子女（被告）提出異議。法院認為，僅從死者的遺囑中無法看出死者的意圖，遺囑的語言缺乏精確性。它發現遺囑的周圍情況是將遺產剩餘留給請願者，並承認外部證據證實了這一結論。 法院指出：「最重要的是，公證人宣誓，當她問死者他想繼承誰的遺產時，他說『我的孩子』，而當被問到他所有孩子的名字時，死者只提到了『請願者』。」因此，法院做出了有利於請願者的裁決。
CONTENTIOUS ESTATES: Canadian court admits extrinsic evidence to determine testator's intention
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has considered evidence external to the contents of a will to determine what a testator intended when referring to “my children” (Ritchie v Hamilton, 2024 BCSC 941). The case was contested by the deceased’s stepson and biological daughter of his second wife (the petitioners) and his biological children by his first wife (the respondents). The court found that the deceased’s intention could not be discerned only from his will, which lacked precision in its language. It found that the surrounding circumstances of the will were to leave the estate residue to the petitioners and admitted extrinsic evidence to corroborate this finding. “Most significantly, the notary public deposed that when she asked the Deceased who he wanted to inherit under his estate, he said “my children”, and when asked the names of all his children, the Deceased only mentioned [the petitioners],” the court noted. Accordingly, it ruled in favour of the petitioners.
Sources:
BC Courts
Wel Partners