Norman Jewison was one of Canada’s most accomplished filmmakers. Born in Toronto, Jewison started his career at the CBC in the 1950s before achieving success in the United States from the 1960s onwards. Today, he’s best remembered for hallmark films such as In The Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof or The Hurricane, Oscar-winning comedies like Moonstruck, and countless others.
Even though his directing career ended over two decades ago, Jewison remained a proud patron of the Canadian film scene. He was the founder and later Chairman Emeritus of the Canadian Film Centre, a Toronto-based training centre that trains and supports Canadian directors and Canadian film and television productions.
By his death last year at age 97, Jewison had amassed an impressive legacy, along with a considerable financial portfolio. Widowed in 2004 after 51 years of marriage, Jewison and his late wife shared three children, and five grandchildren. He remarried in 2010 to his wife Lynne St. David Jewison (“Lynne”), who survived him.
That’s where the trouble started.
A Family Divided
According to CBC News, Jewison’s two sons have filed lawsuits both in California and Ontario, with the California suits filed even before Jewison’s death, alleging that he had been the victim of elder abuse. The lawsuits have since been settled through mediation, and none of the claims had been tested in court, but the stories they tell are ones far too familiar to many Canadian families.
Jewison’s sons allege that, after suffering several strokes in 2010, Jewison became even more dependent on Lynne and the two married that year. As his health declined, she began to take over various aspects of his personal life, including eventually handling his email and phone calls. The sons’ suits allege that in 2022, Jewison’s wife completely cut off access between father and sons, which was only partially restored following mediation in 2023.
Jewison owned several homes, including a beachfront property in California and two Ontario residences, along with residual rights from his many films. In a 2014 version of his Will, some of this fortune was left to Lynne, however the bulk was to be divided amongst his three children.
However, in late 2023 shortly before his death, Mr. Jewison signed a new Will. The 2023 Will excluded all three of his children, and divided his assets between Lynne, and a new charity called the Norman and Lynne St. David Jewison Foundation. The executors were also changed – the new Will featured only one, former Ontario Premier Ernie Eves. Eves, a neighbour of Jewison’s was also a Director of the Foundation, as was Lynne.
One of Jewison’s sons claimed that the 2023 Will was the product of undue influence, and that Mr. Jewison would not have had the capacity to make these changes himself. The claim further states that Lynne did not inform Mr. Jewison’s children when he was in his final weeks, and they were deprived of the opportunity to say goodbye to their father before his death.
Lynne’s lawyers, as well as Mr. Eves’, all deny the allegations, and the Ontario lawsuit has since been settled. The case made news in large part because of Mr. Jewison’s fame, and the considerable size of his estate. However, the issues the Jewison family faced are ones Canadian adults with elderly parents encounter every single day.
What Is Undue Influence?
Undue influence is not like challenging a Will based on the testator (the writer of the Will) not having mental capacity or not being able to understand their wishes. In those cases, an elderly person’s faculties may have diminished to the point where they are asking to change their Will in ways that do not make sense, or do not align with how they have lived out the majority of their life.
Undue influence instead is where a testator has been coerced by someone in their lives who has an overpowering influence on them, and they have ultimately been bent to have the Will align with this person’s wishes. A small or moderate amount of influence is not enough in these cases. In other words, that child or grandchild who asks for the cottage or the boat may be pesky, but their mere ask does not equate to undue influence.
In other cases, though, a new late-in-life spouse, or a new romantic partner, may do a great deal to exert their will on an elderly person with some means. This could be a romantic relationship, but it may also be a caregiver, a friend, or a new lawyer who has worked to intertwine themselves within the testator’s life and begins to make significant changes.
In a 2013 Superior Court decision (2013 ONSC 4133), the Court identified 6 factors that could suggest undue influence, including:
- Where the testator is dependent on the beneficiary for emotional and physical needs
- Where the testator is socially isolated
- Where the testator has experienced recent family conflict
- Where the testator has experienced recent bereavement
- Where the testator has made a new will not consistent with prior wills
- Where the testator has made testamentary changes simultaneously with changes to other legal documents such as powers of attorney
While the allegations are unproven, the portrait of Jewison’s family represents what may be a clear example of undue influence. Mr. Jewison may have loved his wife deeply, yet she came into his life shortly after he was widowed, and they married at a time when his health was declining. The decisions that he made at an advanced age to cut ties with his children and grandchildren seem deeply out of character, and do not align with how he lived the majority of his life.
So, if you believe that your loved one has been subject to undue influence in drafting their Will, what can you do about it?
How We Can Help
Undue influence is a high legal threshold to meet. You may not care for your mother’s new beau, or a nurse that your father has taken a shine to, but that does not necessarily mean that they have asserted an undue influence over their decision making. Older persons are still allowed to make their own decisions, even if some of those decisions may seem disagreeable.
Yet if you do believe that there has been undue influence within your family, speaking to an estate litigator can help. Estate litigation is not simple and challenging a will can be a costly venture. However, in cases of undue influence, it can potentially help right the wrongs that have been done within your family, and mend relationships torn apart by hurt feelings and mistaken choices.
We have helped families throughout the Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo Regions who have been torn apart by undue influence. It is not always possible to unscramble the egg, but when a family has been deeply wronged, it may be worth fighting to make things right. Contact us today to set up a consultation.