The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the dismissal of two separate cases involving disputes over whether joint accounts must be considered part of the estate when someone dies.

The court's rulings Thursday may fall short of giving legal clarity for thousands of Canadian families involved in lengthy and often bitter disputes during probate, the legal process of settling a deceased person's estate.

The court had to consider two similar cases previously heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which gave different rulings over whether joint accounts set up by parents with their adult children should be shared as part of the estate assets when the parents died.

In the first case, Pecore v. Pecore, the daughter's ex-husband was appealing the lower court's decision against his claim for the joint account to be included in the assets of her father's estate, which was to be divided equally between the couple upon his death.

But the Supreme Court rejected the claim and upheld the lower court's decision.

In the second case, Madsen Estate v. Saylor, the court dismissed an appeal by Patricia Ann Brooks, the daughter and the estate's executor, who claimed her father intended the joint account he set up with her not to be included in his estate as it was divided up between her and her two siblings.

The court cited ancient legal presumptions that go back to the 15th century as influences on its rulings and has opened the door to politicians to shape a law to clarify the situation, CBC legal expert Jean Cumming said after the dismissals were handed down.

"It doesn't guide us very far," Cumming told CBC News Thursday.

If anything, the rulings place the onus on the joint account holder to prove presumption of resulting trust that the parent intended the joint account to be separate from estate assets, Cumming added.

"This question has dogged people and courts throughout the ages," she said. "How do you figure out what someone intended when they're no longer around to tell us?"