Resource Hub

Probate means to “prove.” In the case of wills, it refers to the process of proving to the court that a will is legally valid as the last will and disclosing all of the assets in the estate. Oftentimes people loosely use the word “probate” to refer to the much broader process of estate administration though – only a part of which is applying for probate from the court. Estate administration ranges from arranging the funeral, preparing the probate application, filing taxes, paying other debts, distributing the estate, and dozens of steps in between.

Commonly, estates take anywhere from eight months to two years to wrap up. Frustratingly, a lot of this time is spent waiting for court processing times and tax clearance certificates. Estates with complex assets or disputes can take much longer to administer. Westcoast Wills helps executors navigate the system in the most time and cost-efficient manner.

A will is a document where you say who gets your assets when you die. A will can also name successor guardians for minor children and your preferences for funeral, burial or cremation. An estate planning lawyer in Vancouver can help you prepare a will.

There are two main differences between notary drafted wills and wills done by an estate planning lawyer:
Trusts: Notaries are forbidden by law from drafting anything but a simplest trust in wills (paying out to a beneficiary up to the age of 25). Estate planning lawyers can draft any kind trust in a will, which are called “testamentary trusts“.  
Expertise: Estate planning lawyers are devoted to practicing in the area of wills and estates only – with that comes a lot of education, experience and expertise. Our wills lawyers in particular, frequently bounce ideas off of each other to find the best solution for our clients. Sometimes most valuable is that our wills lawyers constantly take courses about other areas of law that may intersect with estate planning, such as in probate law, family law, insurance, financial planning, creditor law, business law and tax law, so we can either provide clients with relevant advice or refer them to someone who can. Most notaries tend to be generalists, doing some real estate transfers, some wills, and some document notarization.