Can an estate grant be obtained without a lawyer? It鈥檚 a little tricky, but absolutely. This is part 3 of a series providing practical advice about the process.
Just because it鈥檚 possible doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 something you should take on. It can be an incredibly frustrating process 鈥� I know from experience when I first started doing estates! The few thousand dollars you can pay a lawyer to look after it will be paid out of the estate, shared by all the beneficiaries.
The ideal reason to give this a shot is where you are the sole beneficiary, because you have an interest in keeping those few thousand dollars of legal fees for yourself rather than paying them to a lawyer.
I discussed identifying the last will in part 1 of the series.
In part 2, I discussed who should make the application and explained the notice that must be provided at least 21 days before you submit your application to the court registry.
This week I describe the documents that must be included in that application. Buckle up for an exciting ride!
I鈥檒l start with the easy ones.
The original and two photocopies of the will. Don鈥檛 remove the staple from the will! Don鈥檛 worry if you鈥檝e already removed it. The sky won鈥檛 fall. It will just mean a bit of extra effort down the line.
Two copies of the printout results of your search of the Wills Registry I told you about in part 1.
An easy form is an affidavit that you need to swear/affirm saying that you issued the required notices that I described in part 2. The affidavit is numbered P9 and called 鈥淎ffidavit of Delivery鈥�.
You prepare that form the same way you prepare the P1, by using the free online forms. The forms are set up so that questions are posed, and you type in the answers. The completed form is automatically generated according to the answers you provided. It鈥檚 really quite cool.
The next logical step is to prepare the 鈥淎ffidavit of Assets and Liabilities for Domiciled Estate Grant鈥�, which is P10. I gave some instructions about how to list estate assets in a previous column published January 5th, 2025.
The most complicated of forms is number P2, 鈥淪ubmission for Estate Grant鈥�. But like all the others, you simply answer the questions, and the completed document is automatically generated.
You need to be armed with a bunch of information to complete these forms. My wife has created a fill-in-the-blanks PDF document to contain the information needed. We find that document helpful to ensure we have everything before we start filling out the forms. If you would like a copy of that PDF document, e-mail me and I鈥檒l send it to you.
Next up is the 鈥淎ffidavit of Applicant for Grant of Probate or Grant of Administration with Will Annexed鈥�, form P3. Don鈥檛 let the title scare you. It鈥檚 just another form. In this document, you swear/affirm that the information in all the other documents is correct.
Have you noticed that the form numbers seem completely random? It鈥檚 a mystery to me too.
There鈥檚 only two more.
Form P41 鈥淩equisition - Estates鈥� is sort of like a cover letter to the court registry.
And the form P19 鈥淚n Probate鈥� is the estate grant pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Once all i鈥檚 are dotted and t鈥檚 are crossed, that document gets signed by a representative of the Court.
Because you make a photocopy of each of the forms after they are signed or sworn/affirmed, I recommend signing everything with blue ink so you can easily see which are the originals.
You take everything to the court registry along with a $200.00 filing fee, paid by cash, debit or cheque. The clerk will take all the originals and stamp/return the copies to you so that you have copies of everything that you filed.
That鈥檚 it! You鈥檙e done! Now you sit back and wait for a call from the registry giving you the amount of probate fees you must pay in order to pick up the estate grant.
Well, not so fast. Mentally prepare yourself for failure. The registrar reviewing your package will do so with an incredibly detailed, multi-page checklist. The odds of your materials surviving that checklist your first attempt of applying for an estate grant are slim to none.
The registrar reviewing your package will provide you with their checklist noting the deficiencies. The checklist will also indicate what is required to rectify them.
Expect to wait a few months for your package to be reviewed. The court registry staff process a huge volume of estate grant applications. The beautiful thing is that you don鈥檛 have to wait that same time frame for your rectification materials to be reviewed because your file will remain at the front of the queue.
Paul Hergott
You are encouraged to contact Paul directly at paul@hlaw.ca with legal questions and issues you would like him to write about.
