Kimberly Whaley

Practice Areas

Kimberly A. Whaley, CS, TEP, LLM is the founding partner at WEL Partners. Kimberly's practice focuses on the resolution of estate, trust, and related disputes. Practice areas include:

- Will, Estate & Trust Disputes

- Advising Fiduciaries

- Dependant’s Support Claims

- Passing of Estate, Trustee, Attorney, Guardian & Fiduciary Accounts

- Capacity Proceedings

- Guardianships

- Power of Attorney Disputes

- Consent & Capacity Board Proceedings

- End-of-Life, Treatment Decisions & Medical Assistance in Dying

- Elder Law/Elder Financial Abuse

- Solicitor’s Negligence

- Representation of Persons Under Disability

- Probate Applications

- Opinions

- Appeals

- Agency Services

- Approval Motions Under Rule 7

Education

Career

Kimberly is a TEP, full member of STEP Canada, and elected Canadian Representative on STEP Worldwide Council and a member of STEP Mental Capacity Steering Committee. Kimberly is designated as a Certified Specialist in Estates & Trusts Law by the Law Society of Ontario. Kimberly has been consistently peer selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in Canada, and by Chambers High Net Worth, Private Wealth Disputes in Canada (Band 1). Kimberly is a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law.

Kimberly was inducted into the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and is a respected mediator in Trust & Estate disputes.

Kimberly has published many articles in Canadian, International, Legal and Medical Journals, taught at 3 Canadian Law Schools, and is often invited to be a guest lecturer. Kimberly regularly presents within institutional and community organizations domestically and internationally.

Kimberly sits on various advisory boards including: Ontario Securities Commission Seniors Expert Advisory Committee (SEAC); Cambridge Forums Estate Planning and Litigation Forum Steering Committee; Toronto Police Service Seniors Community Consultative Committee; Ontario Estates Bench-Bar Liaison Committee; Canadian Center for British Columbia Elder Law (CCEL), co-chair.

Kimberly is a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law fellow; a CanAge fellow; and an Academy Member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law.

Kimberly was called to the Ontario Bar in 1999. Kimberly is also a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (1997).

Professional Memberships

Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners Canada

The Canadian Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

Canadian Bar Association

Ontario Bar Association

Law Society of Ontario

Toronto Lawyers Association

Advocates’ Society

Estate Planning Council

American Bar Association

Publications

Personal Tax and Estate Planning, Federated Press, Vol. XII, No.2, 2023: Predatory Marriages, November 2023

STEP Journal Issue 5, 2023: Ontario’s new will validation legislation: execution and intention, October 2023

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Predatory Marriage: An Emerging Medicolegal Issue, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2023 (Online First).

ETPJ, Incapable and Capable Rights: The Rights of Adults in Vulnerable Circumstances – Sledgehammer v Swiss Army Knife, Vol: 41-4, August 2022

Widdifield on Executors and Trustees, 6th ed., (Toronto: Thomson Reuters Canada) at p. RA-630: Inter Vivos versus Testamentary Undue Influence: Origins, Differences and Recent Developments, September 2021

STEP Vulnerable Client Symposium Final Report, Panel Presentation, June 2021

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry: Susceptibility to Undue Influence: The Role of the Medical Expert in Estate Litigation, June 2021

Estates, Trusts & Pensions Journal: Inter Vivos Versus Testamentary Undue Influence: Origins, Differences and Recent Development, April (2021), 40 E.T.P.J. 269

Money and Family Law: Mediation Confidentiality and Settlement Privilege, March 2021, Issue 36-3

The Advocates’ Quarterly: “Capacity to Instruct Counsel”, Vol. 50, April 2020

The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (IAETL), Oxford University Press, Trust & Trustees: “Resolution of Estates and Trust Disputes: Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution in Canada”, February 2020

Armstrong, Estate Administration: A Solicitor’s Reference Manual, release 2020-1: “Finding Missing Beneficiaries” and “The Essential Guide To Estate Dispute Mediations: Unique Challenges and Creative Solutions for Lawyers”. 2019

JUST magazine: “Approaching Capacity: Addressing a Growing Issue in an Aging World”, December 5, 2019

The Advocates Quarterly: “The Essential Guide to Estate Dispute Mediations: Unique Challenges and Creative Solutions for Lawyers”, Volume 50, Issue 2, October 2019

The Advocates Quarterly: “Finding Missing Beneficiaries”, Volume 50, Issue 2, October 2019

The Advocates Quarterly: “Costs in Estate Litigation”, Volume 50, Issue 2, October 2019

Estates and Trusts Pension Journal (ETPJ): “Posthumously-Conceived Children Born in Ontario: What are their Rights and What do Estate Trustees Need to Know? Volume 38, Number 4, August 2019

Money and Family Law: What is Proper and Adequate Interim Support and How Is It Measured? May 2019, Issue 34-5

Advocates Quarterly, “Dispute over Human Remains”, April 2019, Volume 49, Issue 4

STEP Journal, April 2019, “Not a Perfect Science Volume 27, Issue 3

Awards