Stumbling in the dark – Part 2
- Explaining steps that can be taken without a lawyer to investigate a deceased’s estate, providing clues for how wealth has passed.
You believe that a deceased friend or family member planned to leave you something from their estate.
You’ve reached out to the person who looked after the remains and anything of a funeral but they’ve been unresponsive.
You might choose to do some investigating on your own.
There are tools, available to the public, that can be used to investigate the following:
- The registration of a deceased’s will in the Wills Registry,
- Estate proceedings, which include a copy of the will and list of estate assets, and
- The ownership of real estate.
It is unlikely that these tools will lead you to the full picture of the deceased’s estate plan, but they will provide you with a number of helpful clues.
Registration of a will
The Vital Statistics Agency maintains British Columbia’s Wills Registry.
Anyone armed with a certificate of a person’s death can search the registry for “Wills Notices” registered by or on their behalf.
Instructions for how to order a Death Certificate (costs $27.00) and the Will Search ($20.00) are available online.
A Wills Notice is a simple form that contains the name of the will-maker, date of the will and the location where the will was to be stored.
The actual will is not deposited into the registry.
There is no legal requirement to file a Wills Notice when making a will, but a significant proportion of wills are registered.
Just because a will has been registered doesn’t mean that the will mattered at the time of death:
- It might have been revoked, or a new will might have been made that wasn’t registered.
- All of the deceased’s wealth might have passed outside the reach of the will.
Even with all the limitations, I think it’s of value to search the Wills Registry. If a will has been registered, the registration might give helpful clues including the date the estate planning work was done and an address where the will was to be stored – typically a law firm.
Find out if estate proceedings have been commenced
The legal process of applying for an estate grant (probate) is a public one.
You can search our court system online (Court Services Online) by the deceased’s name to see if an application has been filed. There’s a $6.00 fee.
If so, the application materials will include a copy of the will that is being presented as the deceased’s last will. The materials will also include a statement of the estate’s assets. To get these materials, you will need to go physically to the court registry and pay some additional fees.
This is a gold mine of information. But it is unlikely to include the full story of wealth transfer because it will not include any wealth that passes outside of the reach of the will.
Real estate ownership search
When investigating what has happened to a deceased’s wealth, it can be helpful to investigate title to their home which is often the most significant aspect of their wealth.
It’s a two-step process.
First, you need the “Parcel Identifier”, a unique 9-digit number for the property. You can find that online using a tool called “Parcelmap BC”.
You use the Parcel Identifier to obtain a certificate of the title of the property by paying a few bucks and submitting a form to the BC Land Titles office. Instructions are available online.
If title is solely in the name of the deceased, then you can confidently expect that an estate grant application will be made because an estate grant will be necessary for the property title to be transferred.
Funny business
If you are undertaking these investigations because you believe that some funny business might be happening that could get in the way of you receiving a rightful inheritance, please consult promptly with an estate litigation lawyer. This is a highly technical and time sensitive area of law and nothing you learn from a legal column is a substitute for timely and qualified legal advice.
