B.C. lawyer fined for misconduct while representing a 101-year-old client with dementia

The headquarters of the Law Society of B.C. is seen on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (CTV News)

A lawyer in Kelowna, B.C., has been fined for misconduct while representing a 101-year-old woman suffering from dementia, according to documents from the Law Society of British Columbia.

Kimberly Dawn Rule admitted that she “failed to provide the quality of service required of a competent lawyer when acting in a wills and estates matter” involving the client’s two children, according to an LSBC news release.

“She failed to decline to act for the client when she knew or ought to have known that the client lacked the capacity to retain and instruct her,” the Law Society added.

The Law Society’s tribunal heard the elderly woman’s daughter first approached Rule in April 2022 asking to change her mother’s will—to appoint the daughter and her brother as executors in place of another lawyer who had prepared the document—but declined to go forward after being quoted a $2,000 fee.

During that meeting, the daughter told Rule her mother was suffering from dementia and “would likely not know what she was signing,” according to a decision from the tribunal’s hearing panel.

Months later, the brother contacted Rule and raised concerns that his sister was stealing money from their mother, leading the lawyer to draft a legal document giving the son sole power of attorney.

Rule then met with the mother in her long-term care facility. The senior was “unable to communicate verbally” during that meeting, the panel noted, and she put an “indecipherable mark where her signature ought to have been” on the document.

The tribunal heard that Rule had doubts about the elderly woman’s capacity to execute the power of attorney, and returned a day later to have her sign a representation agreement as well—but did not explain the differences between the documents to her.

The decision notes that under the Law Society’s test for professional misconduct, the presence of “good faith intentions” does not excuse a “marked departure” from the behaviour expected of members.

Rule was given a $15,000 fine and ordered to pay another $1,000 to the Law Society of British Columbia for costs.