Probate is the process of proving the validity of a will, and in estates with assets located in multiple jurisdictions, a personal representative of an estate may be required to go through the probate process more than once.

Where a grant of probate was originally obtained outside of BC (ie. a foreign grant), the process of bringing it into BC for approval by the BC Supreme Court generally takes the form of a resealing application.

Resealing applications in relation to foreign grants are not always required - in many cases, third parties like banks and other financial institutions are willing to rely on the grant issued by the foreign jurisdiction (especially if that jurisdiction is another Canadian province or territory).

Formal exceptions also exist under the BC Corporations Act, the Securities Transfer Act, and the Land Title Act, as well as in general for estates with a gross value of less than $25,000.

Although other mechanisms exist to bring a foreign grant into BC (for example, grants of probate or administration to attorneys, or ancillary grants), the resealing method tends to be desirable if a grant is capable of being resealed.

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This article is intended for information purposes only and should not be taken as the provision of legal advice. Grace C. Cleveland is a lawyer with the law firm of Cleveland Doan LLP and can be reached at (604)536-5002 or grace@clevelanddoan.com.