Donald Lewis Wilkinson

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Donald L. Wilkinson, called to the BC bar in 1995, acted as solicitor and executor of the Estate of AA between 2019 and 2023. He admitted professional misconduct including improperly withdrawing $14,057.24 in executor fees, issuing $30,502.08 in trust cheques to co-executor/attorney BB who was not entitled to POA or executor fees, and taking $10,885.12 in excess care and management fees, exceeding limits under the Trustee Act and Power of Attorney Act. He also failed to provide competent service (not reviewing the EPOA, Will clause 18, or relevant statutes; giving incorrect advice to BB) and failed to supervise or improperly delegated review of key documents to his legal assistant. Under a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement approved on March 23, 2026, the Lawyer consented to resign his Law Society membership. No express finding of dishonesty was made. No fine or costs were stated.

Duties found breached:

• No improper benefit, loan or bequest
• No improper use of client money
• Competence
• Supervise staff and delegated work

Aggravating factors:

• Prior professional conduct record: conduct review in 1999, practice standards file-side chat in 2015, and an administrative penalty in 2023
• Residuary beneficiaries received smaller bequests as a result of the improper fee withdrawals

Mitigating factors:

• Cooperative with the Law Society investigation
• Admitted his misconduct and expressed remorse
• Ceased practising law and agreed to resign membership
• Past the usual age of retirement, unlikely to apply for reinstatement