Death and the law are two topics that go hand in hand. Both are unavoidable and omnipresent in our lives. Outside of the infamous murder charge though, most people pay very little attention to the intersection between death and the law. This is a shame, because quite frankly it is an incredibly interesting topic in its own right. So today we’re going to go over a few points about death and the law that may well be worth knowing.
Riddle v. Ikari
This topic was inspired by the very recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision on Riddle v. Ikari1 where they found that a man named Hooshang Imanpoorsaid was alive. Which, on the surface of things, will seem to most readers like an odd thing for the SCC to weigh in on. That is, at least, before they are informed that this was a decision regarding insurance fraud.
Now look, none of us really like insurance companies, oftentimes they can be quite predatory and they have a habit of letting you down when you need them most, but trying to defraud them for a life insurance payout is not a good idea. Beyond the fact that doing so shows a profound disrespect for the law and societal ideas of justice, it’s also just unlikely to go your way because here’s the thing: it’s hard to be dead in today’s world.
It used to be that you could wander a province or two over and completely restart your life in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere, but like it or not that just isn’t possible in today’s world of overlapping databases and surveillance methods. You can’t just make up a new identity without supporting documents and evidence. The only people in the modern world who don’t have documentation or serious corroboration of some sort supporting their identities are stateless refugees, and they live some of the harshest lives anybody can live.
Still, Hooshang Imanpoorsaid fled to Iran and his wife filed for a declaratory judgement of death so that she could get the life insurance payout eight years later when he never came back. Initially, she was granted this, despite the insurance company’s protests and appeals. However, when new evidence came to light, three levels of courts brought Mr. Imanpoorsaid back to life, so to speak. There was some kerfuffle in all that about the fact that the Insurance company hadn’t served Mr. Imanpoorsaid, but nevertheless he is back alive. This was all thanks to information the insurance company had received regarding the registration and use of two Iranian passports, no death associated with his person in Iranian systems, and an application for an Iranian welfare program in 2018.
Iran is not a country that is particularly close with Canada diplomatically speaking—also geographically speaking. The fact that even fleeing there isn’t enough to fake your own death should say something about its feasibility today.
Death of a Lawyer
Lawyers can do wonderful, almost magical things in the right circumstances, but they are just as mortal as anyone else. They die, often in the middle of working on a plethora of cases, and this can be a huge challenge to everyone around them. The severity of that challenge will depend heavily on their field of practice, the size of their firm, the executor of their estate, and an infinite number of tiny little factors.
This reveals one of the benefits of going with a well-established and long running firm like Aitken Robertson. When a sole practitioner dies, things can fall into complete disarray if proper precautions aren’t taken beforehand. Clients can be left in the dark, key information can be lost, prepayments can disappear into thin air, and more. When a lawyer at a small, ad hoc, firm dies much the same can happen, but with a larger firm comes built-in redundancies and shock absorption. A large firm likely has dedicated software for keeping track of all the essential information of a case. A large firm probably has tighter protocols and best-practices. A large firm almost certainly doesn’t rely on an individual person’s memory like a smaller practice might, because it simply wouldn’t be able to.
General criminal law as a practice area is not the most unforgiving area of law in this case, but still, sticking to a well established and relatively larger firm is prudent with this risk.
Other Areas & Wrap Up
Clients and witnesses can also unfortunately pass away as proceedings are ongoing. For clients charged with a crime where they are personally liable, charges are typically withdrawn or stayed by the Crown in the event of a death. There isn’t anything incredibly interesting about that. Of course, unique circumstances can occur, and there are few absolutes in Canadian law, so nothing can be said on this for certain.
With witnesses it can be a little bit different. Sometimes a witness statement can be recorded ahead of time so that it can be used as evidence in court when said evidence is necessary and reliable. This is an exception to normal hearsay rules known as a KGB statement. These statements, being recorded, would be usable even after the death of a witness, for more information on this please see this YouTube video we made on the subject.
That’s all I’ll say on the subject for now. Hopefully none of you have to deal with your lawyer, client, or witness dying. Also, hopefully you’ve all learned that trying to fake being dead doesn’t work very well nowadays.
Endnote
- Riddle v. Ivari, 2026 SCC 9.
