Dealing with probate without the assistance of a lawyer

Can an estate grant be obtained without a lawyer? It’s a little tricky, but absolutely.

This is the third column in a series providing practical advice about the process.

Just because it’s possible to obtain an estate grant without the assistance of a lawyer doesn’t mean it’s something you should take on. It can be an incredibly frustrating process.I know from experience when I first started dealing with estates.

The few thousand dollars you 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 the first column in this of the series. In the second column 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 will describe the documents that must be included in that application.

I’ll start with the easy ones. The original, and two photocopies, of the will are needed. Don’t remove the staple from the will. Don’t worry if you’ve already removed it. The sky won’t 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 the first Colm are also needed.

An easy form is an affidavit you need to swear/affirm saying you issued the required notices described in the second column. That affidavit is numbered P9 and called “Affidavit of Delivery”. You prepare that form the same way you prepare the P1 form, by using the free online forms. The forms are set up so questions are posed and you type in the answers. The completed form is automatically generated according to the answers provided. It’s really quite cool.

The next logical step is to prepare the “Affidavit of Assets and Liabilities for Domiciled Estate Grant”, which is form P10. I gave some instructions about how to list estate assets in a column published Jan. 5.

The most complicated form is number P2, “Submission for Estate Grant”. 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 document, e-mail me and I’ll send it to you.

Next up is the “Affidavit of Applicant for Grant of Probate or Grant of Administration with Will Annexed.” (form P3) Don’t let the title scare you. It’s 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 random? It’s a mystery to me too.

There’s only two more.

Form P41 “Requisition - Estates” is like a cover letter to the court registry.

Finally, form P19, “In Probate,” is the estate grant pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Once all the “Is” are dotted and “Ts” 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 filing fee, paid by cash, debit or cheque. The clerk will take all the originals stamp and return the copies to you so you have copies of everything you filed.

That’s it. You’re done. Then 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 you don’t have to wait that same time for your rectification materials to be reviewed because your file will remain at the front of the queue.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.