Estate Planning

Delays in Obtaining Probate for Non-Resident Applicants - A Way Out?

By Hull and Hull LLP

The Honourable Justice Brown has in recent months released several Endorsements that appear to be achieving the objective of assisting counsel and the Toronto Region Estates Office by clarifying and streamlining procedural requirements in certain estate matters.

One recent example of this arises out of the Armstrong decision, where after eight months of exchanges with the Toronto Region Estates Office, a non-resident applicant (residing in New Brunswick) had not been granted a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with a Will. The matter was then sent to a judge for consideration, thereby landing in the lap of Justice Brown. 

After consideration of the facts, including (a) the language of the applicable legislation; (b) that consent of the majority of the persons resident in Ontario had been obtained; and (c) that a bond had been posted in an amount equal to the full value of the estate; His Honour granted the request for a Certificate of Appointment.

While some could view this as a 'better late than never' type of situation, as Justice Brown remarks, timely processing of such requests constitutes a critical service provided by the government to the public so they can deal with the assets of a loved one. The goal, therefore, is to achieve a turn-around time of no more than three or four weeks for the issuance of Certificates of Appointment.  

While admittedly this case was not the usual application thereby requiring judicial consideration, it seems we are on our way!

Have a good day,

Natalia Angelini - Click here to learn more about Natalia Angelini.

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).