Best Lawyers Canada recognizes Patterson Law Lawyers in 2024 edition
News
24
Aug
Assistant
Biography
Ben chairs the firm’s Wills and Estates Practice Group.
Ben listens carefully and offers straightforward advice. He advises clients on all forms of estate planning, having a particular interest in the use of trusts to preserve privacy and protect assets. He is also an experienced probate lawyer, with a knack for resolving difficult estate issues. In addition, he has considerable experience dealing with disputes involving wills, estates, trusts and powers of attorney.
Ben holds the Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) designation from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the international body for professional advisors specializing in estate and succession planning. He is an active member of the local trust and estate planning community, sitting on the Executive of STEP Atlantic, as well as the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s Professional Standards Committee for Wills, Powers of Attorney and Personal Directives. Ben also enjoys speaking to local community and professional groups on estate planning topics.
Ben’s experience includes:
- Trusts (including family, alter ego and joint partner trusts)
- Estate and incapacity planning
- Domestic contracts and similar personal planning
- Estate, fiduciary and capacity litigation
- Various types of Probate Court applications
- Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society
- Canadian Bar Association
- Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
- The Advocates’ Society
- Director, Health Services Foundation of the South Shore
- Past Executive Member, Kingsburg Coastal Conservancy
- Past Executive Member, Autism Nova Scotia (South Shore Chapter)
Ben has been a guest speaker for groups such as South Shore Palliative Care, the VON, the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners’ Association, the Lunenburg-Queens Volunteer Partnership, the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, the Acadia Small Business and Entrepreneurship Centre, and Autism Nova Scotia. He enjoys these engagements and welcomes new opportunities to present on topics in the areas of estate planning, incapacity planning, and elder abuse.
- Bar Admission: Nova Scotia, 2013
- B.C.L./LL.B., McGill University (2012)
- B.A. (Dalhousie University, 2008