Janaury 14, 2020 – Expert Evidence & Minor Assets

“As observed by Minnema J. in Rebiere v. Rebiere, 2015 ONSC 1324 (CanLII), 59 R.F.L. (7th) 414 at para. 14, “[i]t is not always necessary to call expert evidence to prove values for minor assets”; a court can even “ballpark” the value of household contents in the absence of evidence of value: Alaouf v. Sumar, 2017 ONSC 3043 (CanLII), [2017] W.D.F.L. 3566 at para. 73.  But to arbitrarily pick a value in circumstances where there is no evidence even minimally identifying the contents, their cost, their date of purchase, or their condition on the valuation date, or at some later point in time, is to simply engage in guesswork.  I am not prepared to guess.  No value shall be attributed to the wife for the household contents which she retained or of which she disposed.”

Testani v. Haughton, 2019 ONSC 174 (CanLII) at 38