Cross Border Family & Estate Litigation Lawyers

Geographical boundaries are easily traversed.   But those boundaries are not inconsequential – and where there are disputes involving more than one country or jurisdiction, the potential for complex legal problems is clearly apparent.

Our specialist team is led by Andrew Rogerson who is internationally known for his expertise in Cross Border litigation.   Our present Cross Border work includes:

• Administering an Australian estate
• Advising the Japanese consulate general on the Hague convention for the return of children, and arranging child custody
• Advising in cross-border divorces

Retaining skilled lawyers who understand the complexities of Cross Border legal issues and have the experience and capabilities to represent clients with cross-border issues is critical to achieving the best result.

Andrew’s formidable cross border experience is forged from more than 30 years of litigating cases with an international perspective. He has lived and practiced in exotic tax havens such as the Turks and Caicos Islands and Jersey, Channel Islands – as well as major financial centres including London and Toronto.

The team has excellent contacts on hand to bring in overseas colleagues to assist as cases require.  Rob Rastorp also brings considerable experience in cross border matters to the practice, particularly those with a Germany element.

Rogerson Law Group is the only Canadian law firm to be accepted as a member of the International Practice Group (IPG) – an organisation comprising lawyers and other professionals who partner on international legal and business matters cost-effectively and to the highest professional standards.

Advising Consul General

The firm is accredited to the Japanese Consul General.  We provided detailed advice prior to the Hague Convention on Child Abduction which came into force in Japan on 1st April 2014.  We are now acting in the first Hague Convention case on behalf of a Japanese national.

In addition, we are the only non-Filipino Canadian law firm accredited to the Philippines Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consul General.  This means we are the only non-Filipino law firm in Canada to provide legal advice and representation to the Consul General in Toronto to Filipino citizens.

International family and property disputes

Our cross border work includes advising and representing in family disputes involving inter-jurisdictional matters.  We are experienced in cases involving spouses domiciled in different jurisdictions, and cases involving assets held in different provinces and other countries.

Representative work

• The firm secured a world-wide Mareva (asset freezing) order in the in the case of Gillies-Smith v Smith in the Ontario Superior Court.  With time of the essence, we worked with our colleagues in the Cayman Islands to freeze assets there. Those assets consisted of diamonds, houses, a yacht and several large bank deposits. The judge’s decision changed the law of the Cayman Islands and set an important precedent across the offshore legal community.Read more about this case at the STEP Journal Cayman joins the Club.
• Cross-border Family Litigation: The cross border team successfully represented the wife in the case of Wang (Hong Wang (aka Jennifer Wang) and Wei Lin FS-12-377 681) – an acrimonious family dispute in the Canadian courts involving very wealthy spouses who immigrated to Canada from China.
• Deceased Estate Litigation: The team is currently representing family members in litigation of a deceased estate case involving Ontario, Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Panama. In addition, we recently acted in contested estate litigation involving Canada and the United Kingdom in which we successfully argued that the proceedings in the UK should be stayed and those in Ontario proceed.
• Property Litigation: We advised in relation to litigation involving the Shard of Glass in London Bridge Quarter, London.  Andrew was part of the legal team that represented an SPV which was domiciled in Jersey that part-owned/ the project.
• Injunctive Relief: Andrew also acted in a dispute in the Turks and Caicos Islands involving the Beaches Resort (part of the Sandals group).  He successfully obtained an injunction freezing an arbitral award based on Bahamas law, but made in FloridaThe case reached the Privy Council settling at the last minute.