Together with our lawyers Mark Horne, Fiona Hunter and John Coupar, Sheila Skene forms part of our Inheritance and Incapacity Planning Group.

Mark Horne

Mark Horne is a Victoria native who graduated from Oak Bay High School in 1965 and took his first degree in English at the University of Victoria in 1970. After receiving a diploma in Secondary Education in 1972 from UVIC, he taught for three years in the Sooke School District before entering UVIC Law School on a President's Scholarship in 1975. After a decade in private practice, Mark received the first Fellowship in Equity, Trusts & Fiduciary Relationships and returned to UVIC Law School where he worked and studied with Professor Donovan Waters.

Mark has practised in Victoria since 1979, principally in the Wills, Estates, Trusts and Charities area with the firm of Horne Coupar, one of Victoria's most established law firms. There he heads the firm's Inheritance and Incapacity Planning Group comprised of three solicitors and six paralegals. The firm and Mr. Horne also provided estate administration services to the Government of British Columbia as Official Administrator for the County of Victoria and as Deputy Official Administrator for the Vancouver Island Region from 1958 to 2002. The firm has also taken a leadership role in emerging elder law issues through its Eldercare Education series.

Mark has written and taught for the Continuing Legal Education Society and Professional Legal Training Programme and presently teaches the Succession course at the University of Victoria Law School. In 1992, he was elected a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Council and in 1994, as an academician in the International Academy of Estates and Trust Law. He is a Past President of the Victoria Estate Planning Council and a Past President of the Victoria Wills and Trusts Subsection of the Canadian Bar Association.

Both personally and through the law firm, Mark is an active supporter of the arts and local charities. He is presently a director of the Pacific Opera Foundation, Sierra Club of BC Foundation, Vice-Chairman of the Ours Forever Campaign of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, a Member of the Advisory Board to the Centre on Aging at the University of Victoria, and an Honorary Governor of the Victoria Foundation.

Fiona Hunter

Fiona Hunter hails originally from Northern Ireland, but parental decisions brought her to Canada at an early age. By the age of ten, she was committed to becoming a lawyer. Her studies led her to Queen's University where she earned her B.A. in 1976, and then to the University of Alberta where she earned her LL.B. in 1980.

Memories of the Emerald Isle brought Fiona to move to Victoria in 1980, where she completed her articles in 1980. She has practised law here since, joining Horne Coupar in April 2000 to continue her practice in estate planning, estate mediation, and estate litigation.

Fiona has continued her interest in higher education by attending the University of British Columbia on a part time basis, earning her masters of law degree in 1988. Her area of studies was trusts. She has since been a regular contributor to professional legal education seminars and conferences, and is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, where she co-teaches a course on Succession with Mark Horne.

Fiona is a co-editor of and contributor to the legal reference book, Financial and Estate Planning for the Mature Client in BC. She has also completed a study for the Law Commission of Canada with Dr. Holly Tuokko of the University of Victoria's Centre on Aging, entitled Using Age as a Fitness to drive Criterion for Older Adults. Fiona is currently working on a new book on trusts drafting.

Fiona has served as past president of the Canadian Bar Association's Wills and Trusts Section, Victoria and past president of the Estate Planning Council of Victoria. She has also been active on the Committee of the Canadian Bar Association concerning the Representation Agreement Act. Fiona currently serves on a committee of the Law Society of BC and is the current Chair of the Board of St. Margaret's School Society.

Fiona loves the law and enjoys her work immensely. She is not, however, adverse to devoting time to her other loves, including her two children, family and friends, cycling, reading, gardening, cooking and sipping single malt.

John Coupar

Born and raised in Victoria, John graduated from the University of Victoria with degrees in Philosophy and Law. As a second generation lawyer, John considers Horne Coupar a family firm and has carried on the tradition since 1983. Also a member of the Inheritance and Incapacity Planning Group, John's preferred areas of practice are wills and estates, conveyancing and general commercial law. John's greatest loves are his wife Jennifer and their two beautiful children. When not practising law, John is a published composer and accomplished musician and an avid sportsman.

Sheila Skene

After a long career with a major Trust Company in Victoria, Sheila joined Horne Coupar in 2001. With her background which included positions as a Senior Trust Officer, Personal Trust Manager and Will and Estate Planner, she brings a wealth of experience to her position as 'will, estate and incapacity planner' and as a part of the 'Inheritance and Incapacity Planning Group' at Horne Coupar.

As a Past president of the Victoria Estate Planning Council, and a member of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners, Sheila is a respected member of the trust community in Victoria.

In her personal life, Sheila is an avid equestrian, a nationally recognised dressage judge, and to express her creative side enjoys drawing animal portraits in pastel.