Family vs. Estates: Spousal Support and Dependant Support

For more than 135 years, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, located within the Courthouse Library, has represented the interests of lawyers practising in the City of Toronto. The association was founded to support its members in three key areas: Knowledge, Advocacy, and Community. To uphold these pillars, the association offers a year-round mix of online and in-person education programs for lawyers, hosts both free and paid events to foster in-person networking, and submits advocacy pieces on behalf of its members to the Ontario bench and bar, all levels of government, and the broader public.

Justice Gilmore was born in Toronto, Canada, where she continues to live and work. She received her law degree in 1992 and worked in a general litigation law practice before being appointed to the bench in 2008. Justice Gilmore is married to Timothy Pinos, a senior partner at Cassels Brock & Blackwell. Timothy is an IADC member. As a member of the bench of the highest trial court in Ontario, Justice Gilmore hears a wide variety of cases. She has been President of the Ontario Superior Court Judges Association since January 2015. The Association represents 95% of the 330 Superior Court judges in the Province of Ontario. In terms of leisure activities, Cory adores golf. She also skis, snowboards, cycles and practices yoga. Cory came to the IADC meeting in Bermuda last July with her husband, Tim. She is famous for wearing the same dress to every event at the conference after Air Canada sent her luggage to Heathrow instead of Hamilton.

On December 13, 2018, Llana Nakonechny was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Llana Nakonechny began her distinguished legal career with her articles in the Ottawa firm of Aitken Greenberg and continued in Toronto at Lang Michener. In 1999, she joined the all-woman law firm of Dickson Appell LLP where she served her family and estates law clients with compassion, wisdom and great skill. She also educated generations of new lawyers at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Llana brought wit and humour to the legal community with her involvement in the arts and fundraising. She has been involved in countless charitable organizations and currently is Chair of the Foundation Committee of Casey House.

Jessica is an accredited Family Law Mediator, a Collaborative Family Law lawyer and Family Law Arbitrator. Jessica also acts as a Parenting Coordinator and assists families in implementing their parenting agreements and court orders. Her goal is to achieve collaborative settlements through alternative dispute resolution. She has an aptitude for structuring creative solutions that accomplish the best results for her clients. Jessica has also acted at all levels of the Court in Ontario and is a passionate advocate. Jessica’s background in corporate and commercial litigation brings a broad and diverse perspective to her practice. In 2018 Jessica was awarded the Heather McArthur Memorial Young Lawyers’ Award from the Ontario Bar Association. The award recognized her dedication to social justice and the development of the law in Ontario. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. She received her LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2012, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2013. She has practiced in Family Law exclusively since then. Jessica previously held a position with the Chief Justice of Canada and assisted in a research project focused on therapeutic justice issues for the development of a special court for infants at risk. She is an active participant in professional organizations, including the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association, the Advocates’ Society and is a member of the Collaborative Practice Toronto. Jessica has been recognized by her peers in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada™ for her high caliber work in Family Law.

Maintaining a practice focused primarily on the law of estates and trusts, clients benefit from Rebecca’s deep subject-matter expertise and fluency in the estate litigation process. Rebecca has been recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada as “One to Watch” in the area. She acts as a compassionate and supportive legal advisor and advocate for clients in will challenges, estate and trust accounting disputes, dependant’s support claims, capacity issues, guardianships, and power of attorney litigation. She also lends her subject-matter expertise to the firm’s complicated corporate, commercial, and shareholders’ disputes with trust and estate elements, ensuring that no detail or nuance is lost, and appropriate strategic action is taken. Rebecca joined Adair Goldblatt Bieber in 2022 with several years’ experience at a prominent estate litigation boutique in Toronto. She is an accomplished advocate and has completed the Osgoode Hall Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop. She holds a law degree from Queen’s University, where she served as a student caseworker for the Queen’s Elder Law Clinic. Rebecca is deeply engaged as a leader in the trust and estates legal community. She has for many years been on the Executive of the Trusts and Estates and Elder Law Sections of the Ontario Bar Association. She is also past editor of the Trusts and Estates Section’s newsletter, and a long-time moderator of the section’s monthly “Brown Bag Lunch”. She is a member of the Toronto Lawyers Association Family & Estates Committee, and co-chaired the Junior Trusts and Estates Practitioners Group from 2022-2024.