Disclosing assets in a probate application – the P10
- Explaining why an estate grant is necessary
- Explaining how assets and secured debts are dicslosed in an estate grant application on a document numbered P10
I promised last week that I would explain how to properly list estate assets when applying for an estate grant.
If you hire a lawyer to obtain the estate grant, listen to your lawyer’s directions. Those who take a stab at obtaining an estate grant without a lawyer might find this helpful.
Let’s get some lingo out of the way.
An estate grant is the court order that gives a person authority to deal with estate assets.
Without it, you won’t be able to transfer property registered with Land Titles, deal with the ownership of vehicles registered in the deceased’s name or access the deceased’s bank and financial accounts.
When the authority is given to an executor named in a will, it’s called a grant of probate. If there’s no will, or someone other than a named executor is given the authority, that person is referred to as an administrator and it’s called a grant of administration.
It’s confusing lingo referring to the same process.
I will use the generic words “estate grant” to refer to the process and the word “administrator” to refer to the person given authority.
There’s a pile of documents that are filed with the Court Registry when applying for an estate grant.
Boil it all down and it’s a bunch of form filling, though the forms come with all sorts of interesting tributaries!
A list of the forms, with links to the forms themselves, can be accessed here (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/168_2009_04_1#AppendixA.1%E2%80%94ListofProbateForms).
Each of the forms is numbered, with “P” for probate followed by the number of the form.
The form containing the list of estate assets is P10, titled “Affidavit of Assets and Liabilities for Domiciled Estate Grant”.
In paragraph 3 of the affidavit, the administrator will swear that all estate property within British Columbia, its value and any liabilities secured against the property are set out in an exhibit. That exhibit is called a “Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Distribution”.
The form of exhibit is also provided.
Part 1 of the exhibit form is for interests in property, i.e. houses and whatnot. The form provides good direction on how to fill out that section.
Part 2 is for tangible assets, or what you might refer to as “things”. The only instructions on the form are to “List item details and then list secured debt details below those items”.
You don’t need to go through the deceased’s home and list the 8 forks, 10 spoons, 6 butter knives, silver salt and pepper set, 12 pairs of socks, etc., etc.
For the most part, you can list broad categories of items.
As for valuations, consider what those categories of items would fetch in an estate sale. Some categories might have no commercial value at all, more likely to be taken to the dump or goodwill. They should still be listed, showing a “nil” value if applicable.
Items requiring specialized expertise to assess should be appraised by those with that specialized expertise.
If there are specific items listed in the will, i.e. a particular piece of jewelry or art, those specific items should be listed separately (not in a category).
You might wonder how anyone would know if you chose not to include the $50,000.00 of gold bars, a $20,000.00 coin collection or a pillowcase with $15,000.00 in cash.
You’ll be swearing an affidavit and perjury is a criminal offence. And really, probate fees on the gold bars would be only $700.00.
Motor vehicles, trailers and other items registered with ICBC need to be listed the way they are registered, i.e. year, make, model and VIN.
The last section, Part 3, is for everything else, which for most people will be limited to a list of bank and investments accounts.
Each account should be listed separately with the name of the bank or financial institution, account type and number and the amount at the date of death including interest accrued to that date.
That’s easy, if the bank or financial institution will provide a statement setting out that information, which they typically do.
Sometimes it can be impossible to get all the information needed to provide a complete list without help from the court.
For example, a bank might not be willing to provide you with confidential information about the deceased because they’re uncertain about whether you will be appointed as administrator.
In that situation, you can submit your estate grant application without the P10, asking the court to endorse a P18 Authorization to Obtain Estate Information in which the court gives you the necessary authority to obtain the deceased’s confidential information.
The P10 can then be filed after all the necessary information has been obtained.
Note that the P10 affidavit includes your commitment that if you find out that the information you swear to is incorrect or incomplete, you will promptly file an updated affidavit (called a P14).
Hats off to anyone working through the estate grant process without a lawyer. The government has tried to make things easy, but even I found the process difficult to follow until I had gone through it a few times.
